The Year I Didn't Go to School

Rating:
Summary: Too many mistakes
Review: I was so excited to see this book -- I've been teaching my children Italian, so it seemed perfect. I was very disappointed to see the many mistakes not only in Italian -- but also such elementary grammatical mistakes in English as "it's" instead of "its." The story itself is episodic, without much compelling action, sense of place or character. The book could have been set in Spain or West Virginia without much change to the story or illustrations.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!!!
Review: My oldest daughter (4) and I LOVED this book! The illustrations are powerful and the story is so fun it makes me want to buy a van and travel around putting on plays with my husband and two daughters!!

Rating:
Summary: This is an adorable book...
Review: The other reviewer is correct in that there are many mistakes in the Italian and a few in the English. But you have to understand what is going on in the story.
The family in this story is an American family that goes to Italy for a year to perform. I get the feeling from the book that they are NOT Italian and are just trying to fumble their way through the language as best as they can. You have to remember that this is not an Italian language instructional guide. It's an autobiographical telling of a year of Ms. Potter's childhood. With that in mind, the other mistakes make sense too. I read the story again and found that the mistake the former reviewer mentions is contained in a section where young Giselle is writing in her journal. It is the writing of a child, hence the grammatical mistakes.
And the reviewer is also correct about there not being many captivating images of Italy, but I don't think Italy is supposed to be the star of the book. Ms. Potter wants us to learn from the lessons she learned as she traveled through that beautiful country. The most important lesson, I feel, is being able to support your family and find the joy in life even when things aren't going so well.
No, this isn't the book you should use if you are trying to teach Italian to your child, but if you just want a cute little book for your child to enjoy, this one will do just fine. My 2 daughters loved it - especially the thought of having a year off of school!

Rating:
Summary: This is an adorable book...
Review: The other reviewer is correct in that there are many mistakes in the Italian and a few in the English. But you have to understand what is going on in the story.
The family in this story is an American family that goes to Italy for a year to perform. I get the feeling from the book that they are NOT Italian and are just trying to fumble their way through the language as best as they can. You have to remember that this is not an Italian language instructional guide. It's an autobiographical telling of a year of Ms. Potter's childhood. With that in mind, the other mistakes make sense too. I read the story again and found that the mistake the former reviewer mentions is contained in a section where young Giselle is writing in her journal. It is the writing of a child, hence the grammatical mistakes.
And the reviewer is also correct about there not being many captivating images of Italy, but I don't think Italy is supposed to be the star of the book. Ms. Potter wants us to learn from the lessons she learned as she traveled through that beautiful country. The most important lesson, I feel, is being able to support your family and find the joy in life even when things aren't going so well.
No, this isn't the book you should use if you are trying to teach Italian to your child, but if you just want a cute little book for your child to enjoy, this one will do just fine. My 2 daughters loved it - especially the thought of having a year off of school!