I picked up this YA romance novel at a used book sale because I’ve read other books by the author and enjoyed them. This one was quite readable and will be recommended to the older urchins as entertainment.

Seventeen year old Percy (bad choice of name for the protagonist, by the way, sorry if your name is Percy) is forced to go to Venice with his family because his dad has a summer job there. As Percy begins to explore Venice on his own, he meets a girl (of course!) in a gelateria, an ice cream store. Graziela, the girl, is lovely and interested in Percy, but she has secrets, and there are cultural differences that threaten to end the relationship before it can properly begin.

The book is fairly clean; premarital sex is implied but not described. Percy is an atheist; Graziela is Catholic, but not too involved in Catholicism other than as a cultural tradition. The couple ends with a philosophy of love and life that I disagree with, but it’s fairly common. The book would be a good discussion starter. Is it possible to have an intense summer romance that you know will end without someone’s getting hurt? Is it desirable? Why? How do Europeans see Americans? How do American young people see Europeans? Is there prejudice on both sides? If so, how can the prejudice be overcome? The book was published in 1998; have things changed since then? Better or worse?

The book reminded me of Madeleine L’Engle’s teen romances, a bit dated, set in Europe with American characters interacting with Europeans and the resulting stereotypes and misunderstandings. Ms. Napoli is a good writer, and her book made me think about why Americans and Europeans have such different outlooks on the world and politics. Eldest Daughter experienced quite a bit of European/American cultural clash and misconstruction when she was in Italy for a summer, then France for a year. Some of it was humorous; some, not so funny. However, there’s no doubt that They don’t really understand us, and we probably don’t get them very well either.

I really like the cover, don’t you? With the Venetian canal and bridge scene and then the boy and girl, it gives a good taste of what’s inside.