Nicky Deuce: Welcome to the Family

by Steven R. Schirripa and Charles Fleming

Book Overview

It's July, and Nicholas Borelli II's parents are scheduled to spend two weeks on a cruise. Nicholas will spend those two weeks, as he does every summer, at Camp Wannameka. The night before he's to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385732570
• ISBN13: 9780385732574
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 8 to 11 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 6

Customer Reviews

Bobby Bacala Baccalieri goes to Bensonhurst

Whitebread Nicholas has to spend a couple of weeks with his grandma in Brooklyn, and gets to know his Uncle Frankie, whose existence was a deep dark family secret. In the process he learns to be a "goomba" and learns to cook alongside his grandma (great incentive for boys to try the recipes for various traditional dishes), how to NOT make friends, and how to get in serious trouble with the law AND the mob. One of the good things is Nicky learn to make chicken with too much oregano and it's a hit. See recipe on www.cookingupreading.com for details.

The Goomba's Guide for Kids

Being second generation Italian I was, believe it or not, a little hesitant to read this book. I had seen the movie "The Godfather" and "Good Fellows." And I thought, this is great, now they are hitting the kid market with the stereotypes. But I was wrong. This book is all about growing up, making mistakes; it's about family, and also about stereotypes. Nicholas lives in an upscale, vegitarian home. When he has to stay with his Grandma Tutti for a few weeks his new environment, lower middle class, meat eating neighborhood where everyone knows your name, is a bit of a culture shock. Nicholas becomes Nicky Deuce (renamed by his Uncle Frankie) and his transformation and life lessons are very believable and endearing. The writing is deceptively easy, sucking you in. Before you know it, you're halfway through the book. Would I want my kid to hang around with Tommy Caporelli? No! But from the safety of the printed page a kid can get in trouble and learn that doing these things can have dire consequences. And what would an Italian story be without food! Great idea to include a few of Grandma Tutti's recipes at the end of the story. Long live the Goomba!