Review Detail

Ice Cream Boy

Middle Grade Indie 182

Don't scream for ice cream... just make your own!

August 05, 2024

Overall rating

4.3

Plot

4.0

Characters

5.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Luca lives in Glasgow, Scotland with his mother, who is very busy selling surgical products, and grandmother, Nonna. His father has left the family and returned to the town in Italy that his own grandfather came from, Barga, and is running a bed and breakfast there. The grandfather had come to Glasgow because the ship to the US made him and his wife too seasick, and the pair had started Verani's cafe. This is still run by Luca's aunt Julia and her husband, who isn't the best businessman. Luca, who does not like school and is rather a cut up, dreams that one day he will run the cafe. Why does he need school? He would rather play video games instead of doing homework, and hang out with his friends Kamal and Sitara. Nonna is supposed to look after him, but when she starts behaving erratically, he is worried, but doesn't want to tell his mother. When he finds out that the cafe is not doing well, and that his aunt might close it down and move to Barga to help his father, he knows he must come up with a plan. There is a Glasgow Recipes from Around the World Contest, Luca is sure that he can win it with his great grandfather's original ice cream recipe, and use the fame to save the cafe. Nonna is lucid enough to give him some direction, and using vanilla pods and more expensive cream than the cafe is currently using, he manages to recreate the brilliant ice cream that made the cafe popular in the past. He also has to deal with schoolmates and town residents who are racist, and Kamal and Sitara both have incidents that disturb them. He gets letters from his father, and talks to Nonna, and finds out that it wasn't easy for Italian immigrants like his great grandfather back in the 1940s, so is even more concerned with helping his friends deal with the "racist numpties". Even though the contest is promising, and he is set to spend a few days visiting his father in Barga and his aunt and uncle, Nonna's situation is not improving. She wanders off, and has several accidents that endanger her. While Luca isn't wild about her going into a care facility, his aunt and mother seem to think it is for the best. As Luca gets ready to enter high school, how will he deal with all of the changes in his life?

Good Points

This had several things that my students and I love. Luca has an interesting passion for growing up to run Verani's cafe, and isn't fond of school. Of course, ANY books with frequent mentions of food are always popular, and I can't think of any others that talk about ice cream quite this much! Over the course of the book, however, he does learn and grow, and begins to realize that there are other things he could do with his life, but he will have to apply himself.

The parallels between the treatment of Italian immigrants in Scotland in the past and modern day ones are brilliant, and I'd love to see a book set in the US, perhaps in Boston, that shows how the way the Irish immigrants used to be treated has parallels with other recent populations. Many tweens and teens are dealing with grandparents who are failing, and I did like the fact that while Luca was leery of the nursing home, his aunt and mother see the necessity, and even Nonna softens towards it. Traveling to Italy was an added bonus, and many of my students have a parent that they might not see as often as they would like. All in all, a very interesting and engaging story!

For US audiences, the grandmother's dialogue might be hard to follow, but I adored her use of "cheeky bampot" and "hen", and feel like the two of us would get along well, since she's not that much older than I am. (An old lady, but not ancient, as Luca describes her.) I can see younger readers using some of her phrases even if they don't fully understand what they mean.

Many middle grade students dream of running coffee shops or ice cream parlors, so this will be a big hit, even with the very United Kingdom Flake ice cream cone on the cover. Pair it with other books that feature struggling family restaurants like Leali's The Truth About Triangles (which also has an Italian restaurant!), or Chari's Karthik Delivers.