Look What Came from Italy (Look What Came from)

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Summary: Look What Came From Italy
Review: As a Kindergarten teacher, I am always looking for books that will help expose my students to different countries and cultures. Because of the age of my students these books are often difficult to find. Look What Came From Italy is an excellent resource for younger children. The illustrations are very nice and colorful (eye-catching) and the text is simple enough for young children. I am so impressed with this book that I plan on collecting others in the series. I would highly recommend this book to any teacher of elementary school-age children.

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Summary: Incomplete, poor attempt
Review: This little book is geared for small children, but parents and teachers who really want to teach their children the Italian influences on the world will find many other books to be a better resource and educaitonal tool about Italian heritage.

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Summary: Hits and misses
Review: This little book is packed with information about the things and traditions in our modern daily lives that originated in Italy. The cover is an attention-grabber, with lettering and layout reminiscent of a B-movie ad. (Creature from the Black Lagoon comes to mind!) Inside, the photographs are pleasing and the copy is easy to read. Many of the items mentioned--glass, paved streets--originated in ancient Rome, but what is fascinating is finding out what does NOT come from Italy. My 6-year-old was shocked to discover that pasta (her favorite!) comes not from Italy, but China. And I was shocked to see the origin of pretzels (obviously a German word and tradition) listed as being Italian. One glaring omission in the book, however, is that, while a photograph of a 1000-lire note shows Maria Montessori's portrait, there is no mention of this pioneer of children's education--one of Italy's greatest exports--anywhere within Harvey's pages. This Montessori teacher, for one, was very disappointed!