Customer Reviews

Ciao Bambino!: A Child's Tour of Italy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What a refreshing idea in children's books! Parents of small children now have a resource to prepare their child for travel, which will help the little vacationer better connect with and understand where they are headed. The beautifull watercolor illustrations add to this highly engaging story as the child learns about the Italian language recognizing, colors, numbers and common speach. Included at the end of the book is a glossary of all the new words for both child and parent reference. If you are headed out on a family vacation, or have friends taking off, this little book is a great traveller. I still read it to my three year old at bedtime. Hopefully there will be more books from Danna Troncatty Leahy in the future.

We were so disappointed with this book that we returned it. For the price, it's a very thin book - only 30 pages. For preparing a child for a trip to Italy, the illustrations were especially disppointing. Only a few offered images of what might be seen in Italy. Most of the others were generic illustrations that could have been set anywhere, such as a child and his stuffed bear eating a pizza, the circle of a flashlight beam on the pavement.

I don't know if I was more disappointed or angered at this little insignificant but dangerous book. The contents has very little to do with what children, who travel to Italy, will ever encounter. What I find it does is continue the negative strereotyping of the Italians. Really! No one stomps on grapes and a child who will visit a farm in Italy will hardly see such outdated stereotypical occurrences. Can food be the only thing one would like of Italy? Of course, since the book failed to explain what other things of wonder a child might see. I bought this for my grandchildren, as sadly there are very few book on Italy with some italian words. I returned the book because I would NEVER introduce Italy to my grandchildren this way. A very expensive book that perpatuates outdated images. Poor job.

We are taking our toddler to Italy soon, and I have frantically searched for toddler-friendly volumes to read to him as we prepare him for what to expect. All the ABC books and counting books I've found are pitched for an audience that is MUCH older (despite the fact that they are ABC and 123 books). This is one of the best books that I have found. My other two favorites are Mangia, Mangia!, a rhyming board book all about food (a great motivator for toddlers like mine who LOVE FOOD), and Picture a Country: Italy (pitched for slightly older kids, but easy for the reader to adapt for a toddler audience--and GREAT photos). What's nice about THIS book is that the child and teddy bear in the book are easy for a toddler to relate to. The situations that they encounter might seem a little contrived for a parent, but they manage to introduce some key words (please, thank you, colors and numbers), convey some idea of what a child might see at tourist sites, and present images of favorite (and familiar) foods. I agree with the one reviewer who thought the inclusion of grape stomping was silly--I doubt any visitor to an agriturismo would encounter such a thing. And I wish that the map of Italy was a bit more realistically portrayed--and not upside-down! But those quibbles aside, my son LOVES this book. And when you are dealing with a subject like travel to an unfamiliar place, no book is perfect. This should be purchased as one of a few books, recognizing that each will have its strengths and weaknesses.

What a wonderful introduction for young children to the Italian culture and language -- not to mention the notion of international travel in general! My daughter (4 yrs old at the time of purchase) loved it - particularly the opportunity to learn the Italian words. For a fairly short book (which I think is a good thing for young children) there are actually quite a few Italian vocabulary words presented in a fun, engaging way. The illustrations are charming and sweet.

I am an American of Italian descent and proud of my heritage. I purchased Ciao Bambino! to read to my grandchildren, Gianna and Dante. It's an excellent introduction to simple Italian words. Nicki"

Date: 7/21/2005 Rated by Buyer: nicki_filipponi

I bought this book for my children before heading to Italy. I thought it would be the perfect "map" for them. I was sorely mistaken. This book is too generic, trite, and offered little that I could not. It is basic to a fault. Neither one of my children liked the book. We ended up giving it away.

My daughter used this book with her 4-year-old students at the preschool where she teaches. Each month her students learn about a country so this book was used when they were learning about Italy. The students loved it! They wanted that book read everyday. They truely enjoyed the book especially since it was told from a young boy's perspective. My daughter says she will use the book in future studies about Italy.