Philip Pascuzzo
Phil Pascuzzo is an artist and designer living in Albany, New York. He’s designed countless book covers, and provided illustrations for No Ordinary Apple.
Books, Courses & Podcasts
No Ordinary Apple
On an otherwise ordinary day, Elliot discovers something extraordinary: the power of mindfulness. When he asks his neighbor Carmen for a snack, he’s at first disappointed when she hands him an apple—he wanted candy! But when encouraged to carefully and attentively look, feel, smell, taste, and even listen to the apple, Elliot discovers that this apple is not ordinary at all.
Lushly and humorously illustrated, No Ordinary Apple makes a traditional technique for training mindfulness a fun and enjoyable way for children to learn to slow down and appreciate even the simplest things.
No Ordinary Pizza
This is no ordinary pizza! Join Elliot and his friends as they make a pizza unlike any they’ve tasted before and then learn how they’re actually eating a meal with the whole planet!
Elliot and his friends celebrate the last day of school, but this is not your average pizza party. His caregiver, Carmen, shows them how to slow down and mindfully eat the pizza they’ve made and, in doing so, taste a pizza like none they’ve ever had before. The kids are amazed to see how each and every ingredient connects them to the whole planet—a joyful web of farmers, bees, cows, and sunshine.
In this follow-up to No Ordinary Apple: A Story About Eating Mindfully, children will encounter not only a yummy way to be calm and present but also a fun, new way to cultivate compassion and gratitude for everyone and everything we are connected to—through the very food we eat!
“No Ordinary Pizza is a fun book with diverse characters and a story that is told in a way that brings mindfulness to life! It is a brightly illustrated story for children about the interconnectedness of the world. A gift for any age!”
—Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Change