Giovanni (the Great)

Set in Ottawa, Furmanczyk-Winogron’s first novel is a tale of acceptance and perseverance that makes some unfortunate stumbles. Antonio D’Angelo has just turned 10, and his parents have given him both a violin and lessons with “the great Fernando Santini.” Antonio eagerly wants to become a concert violinist, and he turns out to be a musical prodigy, despite having lost several fingers in a winepress accident. When new neighbor Giovanni Ciccione compliments Antonio’s playing, the boy is shocked—mainly because Giovanni is a cockroach. As the two bond over music, they work together to teach a lesson to Antonio’s bullying cousin, Alfredo, and to Mr. Santini, who belittles Antonio because of his disability. Background information is rarely fleshed out in this rather episodic story. Giovanni has 11 brothers and sisters, yet only one of them is named, and the author never really digs into the whole “bugs can talk” discovery. But the biggest letdown may be the off-putting and stereotypical Italian accents (“Get in here and kill the cock-a-roach-a!”) she gives to both Antonio and Giovanni’s families. Ages 8–12. (BookLife)