(2) YA Charlotte--a dreamy, tenacious eighteen-year-old from Seattle--thinks she has what it takes to become an author: largely, "the will and intention of an artist." When she's awarded a scholarship to attend a workshop in Venice led by her novelist idol, literary darling Luca Bruni, Charlotte jumps at the opportunity to develop her craft, make powerful connections, and research her ancestor, sixteenth-century Venetian poet Isabella di Angelo. Sumptuous descriptions bring the cityscape to life as Charlotte basks in both Venice's haunting beauty and (at least at first) Bruni's intoxicating presence; on the side, a cute local-history scholar helps her uncover more about Isabella's fate. Close narration keeps Charlotte's shifting feelings of wonder, enlightenment, and vulnerability at the forefront; the third-person perspective allows readers to see clearly what Charlotte cannot admit about her teacher's predatorily flirtatious behavior toward students. The tension breaks when Bruni turns his attention to Charlotte, and she must finally face the truth about him. The fallout from his advances shatters her literary fantasies and she quits the program, but a discovery about Isabella's history draws Charlotte back to Venice--on her own terms--for a quietly triumphant conclusion. Caletti (A Heart in a Body in the World, rev. 11/18; Girl, Unframed, rev. 9/20) weaves the lives of these two striving artists together with an expert hand, with chapter headers profiling dozens of real-life, little-known, subjugated female writers from Isabella's era, highlighting parallels in women's--especially female creative artists'--stories throughout history.

Reviewer: Jessica Tackett MacDonald | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

(3) 4-6 In this companion novel to The BFF Bucket List, thirteen-year-old Skyler is ecstatic to spend her summer days exploring Venice, Italy, for a social-media mentorship at her mom's company. But difficult assignments and a sabotaging co-intern make Skyler doubt her choice. Vivid descriptions of the city's sights, sounds, smells, and tastes (so much gelato!) will have middle schoolers craving similar once-in-a-lifetime adventures.

Reviewer: Lana Barnes

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jane Ray. In sixteenth-century Venice, a glassmaker desperate to cheer up his sullen daughter promises a glass palace to anyone who can make her smile. No one succeeds until one young glassmaker uses a secret formula to create something new: a looking glass. This gentle story's fairy-tale tone is furthered by fanciful watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations, including a striking spread with shiny foil details.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) 4-6 Out of Abaton series. Pinocchio was a mindless wooden "automa," but ever since a mysterious prisoner fiddled with his gears, he's started transforming into a human boy. He joins Princess Lazuli, a fairy, on a quest across the Venetian Empire, into the air, and beneath the sea. The plot rockets along in this steampunk alternate-history retelling, entrancingly packed with Italian Renaissance details and alchemical magic.

Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian

(4) K-3 Translated by Sayako Uchida. Stuffed rabbit Mimi and her friend Piggy embark on a trip to Venice (without their little-girl owner, Saya). Their tame travel narrative--packed with sights, sweets, and souvenirs--includes a little conflict when Mimi and Piggy become separated from each other, but it's resolved quickly and neatly. Tashiro's art places the cute, tiny toys into capable renderings of Venice's gorgeous scenery.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Traci Van Wagoner. A fisherman from the Venetian island of Burano ventures out on a stormy day, desperate to feed his starving community. He capsizes and is saved by a mermaid who also provides a delicately woven lace veil for his waiting bride, which Burano's women use as a guide to create new commerce. This sixteenth-century Italian tale is dramatically told with old-fashioned gouache paintings.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(2) YA In this fairy-tale revisioning set in fifteenth-century Venice, Dolce believes that she's an ugly monster. Father and daughter Marin and Bianca introduce Dolce to Venetian high society, where she is considered beautiful. Though Dolce, soon married to Marin, loves stepdaughter Bianca, the girl's increasing beauty fills her with dread. Napoli's characteristic lush prose relates Dolce's journey from monster to stepmother to monster again.

Reviewer: Sarah Berman | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(3) YA Nicolò Zen, an eighteenth-century orphaned teen in possession of an enchanted clarinet, goes from disguising himself as a girl to join Antonio Vivaldi's orchestra in Venice to finding fame on the stages of Vienna, helped by two benefactors who are doubles of each other. A fresh blend of historical fiction and inventive magical realism, sweeping romance and escapist fun.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(4) YA Order of Darkness series. In 1454 Luca and friends investigate a glut of gold English noble coins in the Venetian marketplace. They uncover alchemists who are manufacturing the forged coins--and also attempting to create life--but not in time to prevent widespread ruin. One-note Luca is less interesting than his companions (particularly Ishraq, a well-educated, gutsy Muslim girl) and the detailed historical setting with its supernatural elements.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(4) 1-3 Greetings from Somewhere series. Illustrated by Marcos Calo. Twins Ella and Ethan must leave their hometown to visit different countries with their travel-writer mother. Coin finds the second graders hunting for Ethan's missing gold coin before they depart. In Mosaic, set in Venice, they track down a stolen gondola and discover a breathtaking mosaic. It's standard chapter-book mystery fare, suitable for independent readers. Black-and-white illustrations are included. Glos. Review covers these Greetings from Somewhere titles: The Mystery of the Gold Coin and The Mystery of the Mosaic.

Reviewer: Tanya D. Auger

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Justin Gerard. An enigmatic Venetian shopkeeper entreats siblings Jared, Shireen, and Miranda to stop the theft of relics connected with three children kidnapped from an eight-hundred-year-old storybook. Familiar lessons about self-confidence and an abrupt resolution are offset by the compelling dual narrative, time-bending magic, and mystical allies. Black-and-white spot pencil illustrations help set the mood.

Reviewer: Russell Perry

(2) 4-6 In fifteenth-century Venice, Renzo strives to become a glassmaker's apprentice. His efforts are complicated by the mysterious homeless children whom he secretly shelters in the glassmaker's shop. Inexplicably attended by various birds, they--and their grandmother, imprisoned in the dungeon of the Doge's palace--are threatened with execution as witches. Fletcher spins a tale enriched with vibrant characters and an authentic setting.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(4) YA Laura's life is nearly perfect now: she's engaged to her love, Roberto, and the Segreta, the all-female secret society she joined in Cross My Heart, is as powerful as ever. Then Roberto is accused of murdering an Ottoman princess, and the empire threatens war with Venice. The conspiracies and political intrigue tip into outlandishness in this sequel, but it's an exhilarating ride.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) YA Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. Cass (Venom) is warned that there are vampires on the loose in Florence. Still, when her fiancé is arrested, she makes her way there in search of information that may free him, encountering intrigue, danger, and an unlikely ally. Cass's character is still wavering between actor and conveniently accidental spectator, though she grows less passive by this historical-mystery installment's end.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(4) K-3 Illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel. Priest Antonio Vivaldi teaches music to orphans in eighteenth-century Venice. When the orphanage's governors send him away, he remains inspired by the girls and eventually dedicates his most famous works to them. The historical story is enchanting, but Kitchel's flat watercolors are less so. An author's note separates fact from speculation, and a CD recording of The Four Seasons accompanies the book.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) K-3 Candida, one of the orphan girls comprising Antonio Vivaldi's "invisible orchestra," drafts the composer's sheet music and is "a bit of a daydreamer." When she accidentally records her imagination on the pages, it earns her attention--and it inspires Vivaldi's next masterpiece. Figures are inconsistently caricaturish, but the rich pastels are nevertheless attractive and a good match for the dreamy text.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) YA Recently released from a convent and mourning the death of her older sister, Laura becomes indebted to the Segreta--a society of secrets--when they prevent her arranged marriage. As she becomes embroiled in Venice's twisted social web, she learns that dark secrets lurk in everyone. Gould evokes sixteenth-century Venice beautifully in this story of deceit, political intrigue, mystery, and romance.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) YA Before his death, their father, a respected glassblower, declared that younger daughter Maria marry Venetian nobility, leaving elder Giovanna to stay on Murano with the family. The sisters each long for the other's future (and suitor); creative ingenuity allows for a satisfying resolution. A vivid fifteenth-century Venetian setting, true-to-life family tensions, and fairy-tale romance complete this novel told in elegant verse. Glos.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) 4-6 This companion to The Undrowned Child finds Teo and Renzo traveling from a now frozen-over Venice to London in pursuit of villainous Bajamonte, who they suspect plans to annihilate both cities. Rich historical backdrops again show Lovric's research (an author's note elucidates "what is true"), but this magic-imbued book's circuitous plot, which seems to hint at another sequel, may tire some readers.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl

(4) YA Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. "You must feel like a caged bird, battering its wings against the sides of its golden prison." Impetuous Cass wishes to know life beyond her elite Venetian world, but when she finds the mutilated body of a young woman she first needs to stay alive. Fluid, sumptuous prose compensates some for flat characters and a predictable love triangle.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer