October is 🇮🇹🇺🇸 Italian American heritage month. I am a firm believer of teaching the new generations all about the rich culture and traditions that we have as Italian Americans. We have to keep it going and what better way to do it for kids than with books.
Sincerely hope that you will love these books as much as I do. I read some of them to my old students when I was a teacher, to my own children when they were little, and now to my niece and nephew.
📚 All the Way to America by Dan Yaccarino is an amazing story of a family’s immigration from Italy. Yaccarino talks about how his great grandpa came to America with a little shovel, a tomato sauce recipe and the advice, “Work hard, but remember to enjoy life, and never forget your family.” The story recounts how these three things were passed down through four generations of this Italian-American family.
📚The Legend of Old Befana is an Italian Christmas folk tale about a grumpy old woman who likes to sweep her home and bake. One day she encounters the procession of the Three Wise Men on their journey to find Jesus. When asked to join them she decides not to. She later regrets this and bakes amazing treats to give as a gift to baby Jesus. She sets forth on her own journey to find Bethlehem but never does. Now in Italy, every January 6th legend has it that Befana visits all children while they sleep. She brings them gifts and sweeps their rooms.
📚C is for Ciao: An Italy Alphabet, by Elissa D. Grodin and Mario Cuomo – Italy’s rich history, food culture, geography, and countless traditions are explored with each letter of the alphabet. There are even recipes in there!
📚Theodore’s Italian Adventure, by Asleee and Trent Harding- Cute little Theodore the bear explores with his readers many historic places in Italy while eating the amazing food. He explains many aspects of Italian culture from their love of soccer to fashion.