In her first venture as both writer and illustrator, Potter (Gabriella's Song) proves as adept with words as she is with images, spinning a lyrical account of the year she toured Italy with her family's theater troupe. After packing their steamer trunks with "puppets, masks, and musical instruments," their grandparents see them off at the airport. Then seven-year-old Giselle, her little sister, Chloë, and their parents are off in an old wooden carnival truck across "the country that's shaped like a boot." From their not-so-stellar debut at a piazza in Florence (the police scold them for not having a permit, their truck gets stuck in a narrow street and they are rescued by nuns) to their grand finale performance in Rome, Potter wisely filters her reminiscences through the eyes of her child-self. She alights on details most likely to intrigue a young audience (such as "bread you could roll up into little balls" and a circus performer named Eva "who could hang by her long hair and play the tuba"). The captivating account makes the exotic setting come alive (e.g., "We ate little pizzas with thin crusts until our bellies puffed up, and watched people dancing under the sparkly lights"), as does the fittingly quirky mixed-media artwork. Her instantly recognizable elongated faces and disproportionate bodies—all arms and legs—particularly suit her free-spirited family. Endpapers sporting journal entries, homework assignments, drawings and more from Potter's original trip make the foreign backdrop immediately accessible. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
