Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This memoir of an Italian boy growing up during the 60s in New York City could have been amazing. Due to lack of an aggressive editor, it was merely "meh".

There are great stories here, but the disorganization and repetition made it difficult to grab hold of. In addition, the author attributes deep thoughts to his fourth-grade self, thoughts that no kid has ever had. He may be able to see the significance of certain moments now, but I find attributing them to his child-self disingenuous. For example, "That made me think of Mrs. Clark, too. Maybe her breaking down was just a rest in the music of her life a pause that allows for breath before the melody resumes. We all need rests, they give the music depth, meaning, and dynamics." Really? This is what you were thinking when you were 10 years old?

I'm giving it a very generous 3 stars.

Charles Presti tells his readers they should not consider his work a factual account of his life or of history, but one that has been embellished for the purpose of entertainment. Well, I have been entertained.
In 1968, eight-year-old Carlo Pozzi enters the third grade and finds Miss Veezi, the teacher every child deserves to find; the wonderful Miss Veezi who takes her “adventurers” on a journey meant to prepare them for the world that is coming. The reader is swept away with her vision of the form that preparation will take.
Presti’s accounts of the life of this Italian American family stir the imagination. He describes Carlo and his Aunt Nina embarking on a Cannoli-making expedition with such detail that the reader sees, hears, smells, and tastes the entire steps in the process.
Miss Veezi isn’t the only teacher in Carlo’s life. Through tiny Aunt Julie’s defense of a black man being beaten by a group of men, Carlo learns that “bravery isn’t measured in stature” but in being willing to “stand up for what is right, no matter the odds.” When his dad chases after a robber in the mall, he tells Carlo, “Sometimes you have to do what’s right, even when it’s scary.”
Carlo and his sister Sophie have wondered about their grandparents and Netty Geppetta, a pretty remarkable character in her own right, reveals to them the “rich tapestry” of their grandparent’s life, complete with all its complexities and struggles. She ends her characterization with, “You’re a Pozzi, after all, which means you’re built to last.”
As the family’s story progresses, Carlo begins to see signs of things under the surface. His eyes are slowly opened to kinds of violence and prejudices that he has been sheltered from. Domestic abuse, bigotry, and alcoholism are present throughout the story.
Carlo’s father does not allow him to watch Julia on TV or read The Johnsons of Maple Street and swears at Miss Veezi when she calls home with questions. This distresses Carlo who is already stressed because he can’t carry a tune and is not at all athletic, but on Valentine’s Day, Miss Veezi has a Valentine’s Math Challenge to see who the “smartest Cupid” in class is. She invites Carlo to try. None of the challenge questions stump him and Miss Veezi presents him with a “Smarty Pants” heart and declares him the “reigning Math Cupid.”
As the school year ends, Carlo’s final thoughts focus the reader on all he has seen and understood in his year with Miss Veezi. He has come to understand who he is and be comfortable with himself.
Presti has kept his word to entertain, but he has also presented a large variety of problems for the reader to consider. The lessons Carlo learns stay with the reader long after the book is closed.

I enjoyed this book. It's a coming of age story that takes place in the late 60s and Carl's struggles with the hectic world around him. I do wish that there was a little more pushback on Carl's racist dad, as it seemed kind of a footnote in the final chapter that Carl realized it's a "bad thing." Mentioning previous anti-Italian bigotry, it was clearly parallel but given that I see a lot of kids reading this, it would have been nice if Carl explicitly made that connection.

Overall, if this book was on a list of options for my elementary school students to read as a class, I would definitely consider it!

This book was everything I expected and so much more! It was so hard to imagine being in this time... It is bad enough now. I wish there were more teachers able to create environments like his! She was kind, knowledgeable and understanding. Now teachers' hands are tied by bureaucracy.... This book really makes you step back and think. I will be recommending this book to others!

I took a chance on a story I wouldn’t normally pick up and really did enjoy it. Learning what it felt like to grow up in the 60s in an America full of turmoil from the eyes of this 8 year old boy. Brought feeling out in me as I read it that made me feel like I wanted to comfort him.

Covered in Flour is a story of growing up in an Italian-American family in the 1960s. Told through the perspective of an 8 year old, the musings and conflicts are sure to hit home for many of us. Some of the memories felt very uncomfortable, such as the racism, and then I realized that despite our years of learning and growing, racism is still very much alive today.
The young boy's thoughts felt to me like a much older person's thoughts. Nevertheless, this story is a reminder of how things were and how far we have yet to go.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

I remember the historical events of this story and was fascinated to read about them through the eyes of an eight year old. Often I felt as if Carl had pretty sophisticated language and thoughts for an eight year old and had to keep reminding myself it was an adult's interpretation of his eight=year=old experiences. I do not know why that plagued me throughout the book. The constant narration about the warm family events was important to showing how we perceive our families when we are young and how we learn about some harsh realities as we grow, I thought they were a bit overdone and my mind started to glaze over at the near constant "goodness" narration. It was a good story and an important one, but somehow missed the mark. On the other hand, I would like to have my book club read it and hear their reactions as well as what they remember from that time.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. Nice memoir about growing up in the sixties with the Vietnam War, Equal Rights Movement, demonstrations and cultural changes. Reads like a weekly tv show. Enjoyed it.

There were parts that I loved about the book, especially the descriptions of the families in the kitchen and the bakeries. It made me want to run out and get a cannoli, even though such a thing doesn't exist in my neck of the woods. But, for the most part, I found the writing amateurish, and unpolished. The author seemed to struggle to find the voice of the narrator. Was it a grown man recalling a year in his young life, or the boy relating the story in the moment? There were times when I found myself shaking my head, thinking that no eight- or nine-year-old boy would be talking like that, or even thinking like that. Also, there were glaring inaccuracies such as mentioning the sound of rustling leaves on trees in January; there are no leaves on trees in the upper Midwest in January. I'm also pretty sure that no female teacher would be allowed to wear a mini-skirt in the classroom in the 1960's.
I won't ramble on. I think this writer has potential, but he needs the help of a good editor.

Told through the eyes of an 8 year old child in 1960's America, Covered In Flour was an enjoyable read that covered many important topics still relevant today.

The main character, Carl, is learning to form opinions of his own, with influence from family, friends and his third grade teacher; often these outside opinions strongly disagree with each other, so Carl is left to figure out the nuisances himself.

This book covers politics, race, family history (and present) and love for culture. I am not an American, but this book was a great read despite of that. The political talk was well explained, since the main character was also learning about it for the first time.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in reading about recent history, and how it also can also be applied to the current day.