Magnifico

Could life get more embarrassing?

Mariangela longs to play the piano; but when her Italian immigrant family arranges for accordion lessons instead, she can't contain her disappointment. Who wants to be strapped to such a heavy, ugly old thing? But before she knows it, a mortified Mariangela is dragging the old accordion in a red wagon through the streets of Vancouver to her lessons. Try as she might, Mariangela can't get the accordion to sing for her. Even her accordion teacher, whose two missing fingers and handsome looks fascinate her, cannot find a way to inspire his pupil. But he can tell stories, and through his own sometimes harrowing experiences, Mariangela gradually comes to understand both her family's determination to start life in a new country and her own capacity to persevere.

Author Victoria Miles drew from her mother's own misadventures with the accordion to create a rich tapestry of Italian immigrant life in Vancouver during the thirties. Funny, sad, and ultimately inspiring, Magnifico is a coming of age story that will stay with the reader for a very long time.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Published: 04/30/2006
ISBN: 9781550419603
Pages: 32
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 8.28h x 6.04w x 0.86d
Large Print
Award: Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award - Nominee

Review Citations: Quill & Quire 05/01/2006 pg. 58
School Library Journal 07/01/2006 pg. 108
Booklist 07/01/2006 pg. 58
Multicultural Review 12/01/2006 pg. 89

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 107872 / Magnifico
Reading Level: 5.2 / Interest Level: Middle Grade / Point Value: 6