Adult Picks

An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians

by Paul Moses

An Unlikely Union tells the dramatic story of how two of America’s largest ethnic groups learned to love and laugh with each other after decades of animosity. They came from the poorest parts of Ireland and Italy and met as rivals on the sidewalks of New York. Beginning in the nineteenth century, the Irish and Italians clashed in the Catholic Church, on the waterfront, at construction sites, and in the streets. Then they made peace through romance, marrying each other on a large scale in the years after World War II.

The Family

by Naomi Krupitsky

Two daughters. Two families. One inescapable fate. Sofia Colicchio is a free spirit, loud and untamed. Antonia Russo is thoughtful, ever observing the world around her. Best friends since birth, they live in the shadow of their fathers' unspoken community: the Family. But the disappearance of Antonia's father drives a whisper-thin wedge between the girls as they grow into women, wives, mothers, and leaders. Their hearts expand in tandem with Red Hook and Brooklyn around them, as they push against the boundaries of society's expectations and fight to preserve their complex but life-sustaining friendship. One fateful night their loyalty to each other and the Family will be tested. Only one of them can pull the trigger before it's too late.

Italian Folktales

by Italo Calvino

Filled with kings and peasants, saints and ogres—as well as some quite extraordinary plants and animals—these two hundred tales bring to life Italy’s folklore, sometimes with earthy humor, sometimes with noble mystery, and sometimes with the playfulness of sheer nonsense. Selected and retold by one of the country’s greatest literary icons, “this collection stands with the finest folktale collections anywhere” (The New York Times Book Review).

Household Saints

by Francine Prose

On a 1950s September night so hot that the devout Catholics of Little Italy wonder if New York City has slipped into hell, the butcher Joseph Santangelo invites his friends to play pinochle. At the end of a long evening, his friend Lino Falconetti, addled by wine and heat, bets the hand of his daughter, Catherine—and Santangelo wins. Santangelo’s modern new wife clashes immediately with his superstitious, fiercely protective mother. But years later, it is Catherine who is horrified when the daughter they raise turns out to have more in common with the old world than the new.

Antonio and the Electric Scream: The Man Who Invented the Telephone

by Sandra Meucci

Antonio Meucci represents an unlikely story in American history. Having come of age in Florence, Italy, he immigrated to America by way of Cuba, where he lived for many years and where he worked with the Italian Opera Company. Familiar with telegraphy, wherein intelligence (information) was being transmitted through a wire, he proposed to transmit human voice through the same type of wire. Hav-ing come to New York, and having established several kinds of business, he experi-mented with his telettrofono (electric phone). Satisfied with the results of having trans-mitted voice intelligence from one end to the other end of copper wire, Meucci applied for a patent and received a caveat instead. A. Graham Bell, however, received a patent for a similar invention. Now, finally, after more than 160 years, Meucci is being vindicated.

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

by Juliet Grames

For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents—moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted. In her rugged Italian village, Stella is considered an oddity—beautiful and smart, insolent and cold. When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and Tina must come of age side-by-side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them. Soon Stella learns that her survival is worthless without the one thing her family will deny her at any cost: her independence.

Kid and Teen Picks

In English, of Course

by Josephine Nobisso

Ages: 4-8

Set in the Bronx during the 1950s, when postwar immigrant children were placed in their first American classrooms, this delightful story tells of the riotous linguistic misunderstandings of Josephine’s first day of school. The daughter of savvy Italian engineers, Josephine has lived in the city long enough to have learned a few words in English, but is overcome when her teacher makes her stand up in front of the class and tell about her life in Italy—in English, of course. The result is a charming tale of adventures and multicultural miscommunications as Josephine attempts to make herself understood. Children will come to understand that sometimes people underestimate the talent and dignity of newcomers to the United States and will embark on a poignant journey as Josephine tells her incredible story the best way she knows how and attempts to understand her English-speaking teacher and classmates.

Peppe the Lamplighter

by Elisa Bartone

Ages: 4-8

This is the story of Peppe, who becomes a lamplighter to help support his immigrant family in turn-of-the-century New York City, despite his papa's disapproval. Peppe's family is very poor, and though he is just a boy he needs to find work. Being a lamplighter on the streets of Little Italy is not the job his father had dreamed of for Peppe. But when Peppe's job helps save his little sister, he earns the respect of his entire family.

Sofia's Stoop Story

by Maria LaPlaca Bohrer

Ages: 6-9

On a stoop in Brooklyn, in the 1960s, Uncle Frankie begins telling Sofia and her cousins a story about the day he met Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player, Carl Furillo. Meanwhile, Sofia's Nana is next door, preparing the Italian family's Sunday dinner. Nana sends Sofia on errands to buy cheese, bread, and cannoli. Sofia returns to the stoop, only to discover that Uncle Frankie's story is over, and it's time to eat. When Uncle Frankie realizes Sofia is upset because she only heard bits and pieces of his story, he shares his historic tale from beginning to end, and he gives her a keepsake that he's saved since 1947. Maria LaPlaca Bohrer's story reveals the 1960s, Brooklyn landscape through her own memories of Sunday dialogues with her Nana, her Uncle Frankie, and local merchants. She explores the warmth and consistency of intergenerational relationships in a typical, Italian-American family.

Kimchi & Calamari

by Rose Kent

Ages: 8-12

Joseph Calderaro has a serious problem. His social studies teacher has given him an impossible assignment: an essay about ancestors. Ancestors, as in dead people you're related to. Joseph was adopted, but the only sure thing he knows about his birth family is that they shipped his diapered butt on a plane from Korea and he landed in New Jersey. How do you write about a family you've never known and at the same time manage all the other hassles that middle school mixes in the pot? What Joseph writes leads to a catastrophe messier than a table of shattered dishes—and self-discovery that will change his life recipe forever.

Penny from Heaven

by Jennifer L. Holm

Ages: 9-13

School’s out for summer, and Penny and her cousin Frankie have big plans to eat lots of butter pecan ice cream, swim at the local pool, and cheer on their favorite baseball team—the Brooklyn Dodgers! But sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Penny’s mom doesn’t want her to swim because she’s afraid Penny will get polio. Frankie is constantly getting into trouble, and Penny feels caught between the two sides of her family. But even if the summer doesn’t exactly start as planned, things can work out in the most unexpected ways! Set just after World War II, this thought-provoking novel also highlights the prejudice Penny’s Italian American family must confront because people of Italian descent were “the enemy” not long ago.

American Ace

 by Marilyn Nelson

Ages: 13-17

Connor’s grandmother leaves his dad a letter when she dies, and the letter’s confession shakes their tight-knit Italian-American family: The man who raised Dad is not his birth father. But the only clues to this birth father’s identity are a class ring and a pair of pilot’s wings. And so Connor takes it upon himself to investigate—a pursuit that becomes even more pressing when Dad is hospitalized after a stroke. What Connor discovers will lead him and his father to a new, richer understanding of race, identity, and each other.