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Cover of Pizza My Heart
Graphic · ages 5–8

Pizza My Heart

Written and illustrated by Mika Song

Book 3 in Norma and BellyView the full series

Top giftableEndlessly rereadable

Book three of the squirrel capers: sick of acorns, Norma and Belly set their sights on the town's new robot pizza automat — and, inevitably, one of them ends up trapped inside it. Quick, chaotic and warm-hearted.

  • Best for5–8
  • FormatGraphic
  • Length96 pp
  • Read aloud~45 min
Where to buyPaperback
WaterstonesIn stock
£8.99
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The vibe

What it’s like.

Style

  • Comedic
  • Conversational

Tone

  • Funny
  • Silly
  • Warm
  • Exciting
  • Whimsical

Themes

On the pagepizza, squirrels, friendship, vending machine, cat

Experience meters

Energy4/ 5
Humour5/ 5
Scariness1/ 5
Peril2/ 5
Wonder2/ 5
Cosiness3/ 5
Emotional intensity1/ 5
Conceptual intensity1/ 5

What’s it about?

The story.

Tired of acorn-based dinners, Norma and Belly are thrilled when Pizza Bot, an on-the-street pizza automat, opens in town. When Norma tries pressing its buttons she tumbles through the dollar-bill slot and lands in the machine's kitchen, and Belly — unable to get in to free her — hitches a ride with the delivery driver, Pizza Kid, right to the doorstep of Tomato, the meanest cat in town. With help from friends old and new, the squirrels scheme their way toward the pizza they crave and the friend they need to rescue. Mika Song's expressive ink-and-watercolour panels keep the pace brisk and the physical comedy front and centre, while the reading load stays very light — perfect for a newly independent reader or a shared storytime giggle. The peril is purely cartoonish; the friendship, as ever, is the real point.

Fit check

Right for your child?

Where it lands by age

Best-fit around 5 to 8. Very light text and strong picture support make it a confident early independent read; it reads aloud well to 4-year-olds. Minimal adult crossover beyond shared laughs.

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  • Best fit · 5–8
  • Read aloud · 4–7
  • Independent · 5–8

Prose load

Minimal

Visual support

Very high

Reluctant-reader friendly

Very

Read-aloud quality

Strong

Works well for

  • Reading aloud
  • Gift-buying
  • Reluctant readers
Low sensitivityNo content warnings

Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.

Bedtime suitability

3 / 5 · Workable

Sensitive-child

5 / 5 · Good fit

Graphic intensity

1 / 5 · None

Best for

  • Reluctant readers
  • Laugh out loud
  • Feel good
  • First graphic novel

Avoid if

No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.

Particularly good for children who are…

  • Reluctant reader
  • Struggling with reading
  • Making friends

Why it lands

Why they love it.

Why kids love it

Norma falls inside a pizza vending machine and Belly has to spring her — with a delivery-scooter ride, a mean cat called Tomato, and a lot of scheming. It's fast, silly and completely relatable to anyone who has ever really, really wanted a slice.

  • Trickery and cleverness
  • Friendship and belonging
  • The underdog winning
  • Unlimited treats
  • Surviving danger

Why parents love it

The shortest and snappiest Norma and Belly yet — a page-a-minute caper with just enough jeopardy to keep a new reader turning pages, and none of the real menace. Song's art carries the comedy, and it rewards being read together.

  • Shared humour
  • Quick to read
  • Indie gem discovery

In the series

Norma and Belly.

4 books · open the series →

About the author & illustrator

Mika Song.

MS

Mika Song

Writer & illustrator · United States

Mika Song is an author-illustrator who grew up in Manila and Honolulu before moving to New York to study animation at Pratt Institute and work in children's educational animation. She writes and draws her own books in a loose, expressive ink-and-watercolour style perfectly suited to early graphic novels. Her Norma and Belly series — Donut Feed the Squirrels, Apple of My Pie, Pizza My Heart and One Smart Cookie — follows two scrappy city squirrels whose food-obsessed heists always go gloriously, cartoonishly wrong, with friendship the real reward; the first book won a 2021 Eisner Honor for early readers. Her tender graphic novel Night Chef, about a lonely raccoon who secretly cooks in a French restaurant, brings a Studio Ghibli warmth to themes of loneliness and belonging. An ideal first comic for newly independent readers aged 5–9, light on reading load and big on heart.

More from Mika Song

If you liked this

Three ways out of this book.

If you liked this, try…

Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.

Come into this from…

Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.

Where to go next…

Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.

Last reviewed · July 2026Suggest a correctionHow we recommend

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