Francesco Tirelli's Ice Cream Shop

by Tamar Meir (Author) Yael Albert (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Francesco Tirelli loved to eat gelato from his uncle's cart. So when he moves from Italy to Hungary, Francesco decides to open his own ice cream store. There young Peter learns to love ice cream as much as Francesco did. But when the war comes and Francesco closes his shop for the winter, he uses the shop for a special purpose--to hide his Jewish friends and neighbors from danger. This heroic tale is based on true events.
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Review quotes

"Italian-born Francesco Tirelli loves the ice cream Uncle Carlo sells from his pushcart. After moving to Budapest, Francesco opens his own shop and befriends Peter, a young Jewish boy. When life becomes difficult for Jews during WWII, Francesco secretly offers his shuttered-for-winter ice cream shop as a hiding place for Peter and his family. The daughter-in-law of the real-life Peter, Meir offers a succinct account (smoothly translated from the Hebrew) of Tirelli's efforts, which led to his 2008 recognition as Righteous Among the Nations (non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust). Befitting a picture book that will attract mostly younger readers, Meir is vague about the specifics that Peter and others endured, emphasizing instead the makeshift Hanukkah the group fashioned from an empty candy mold. Albert's upbeat illustrations feature mostly cheery blues and reds; the spreads depicting hiding are dark but not alarming. Only the subtle placement of empty shoes serves to remind of those who perished. A gentle, yet heroic addition to Holocaust literature."— Kay Weisman, Booklist

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781541534650
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Kar-Ben Publishing (R)
Publication date
August 01, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV033020 - Juvenile Fiction | Religious | Jewish
JUV016060 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | Holocaust
Library of Congress categories
History
World War, 1939-1945
Jews
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Rescue
1918-1945
Hungary
1872-1945
Budapest (Hungary)
Ice cream parlors

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