Cuore (Heart): An Italian Schoolboy's Journal

"A real classic of boy character and life, a book of singular charm and lasting value, of which we have spoken appreciatively more than once....This journal of an Italian schoolboy is worthy of a place alongside 'Tom Brown at Rugby' and 'The Story of a Bad Boy." -New Outlook "Edmondo De Amicis...was the most conspicuous representative, in modern Italian literature, of the classic traditions, whose fame has been obscured by the achievements of latter-day naturalism and mysticism of the more or less hectic type....To us, as to the world at large, he is best known through a single book of child life, 'Cuore,' which has become one of the classics of European literature." -The Nation "For the originality of its form, the intensity of its style, and for the skill displayed in its delineation of character, 'Cuore' has been highly praised by Italian critics." -The Literary World "A book that cannot but interest boys....It is a recast of a school boy's journal and is a revelation of how the youth thought and felt. The extraordinary popularity of the book in Italy is shown by the fact that when this translation was made it had reached its 224th edition. It might be called 'The History of a School Year by a Pupil in the Third Grade in Public School in Italy.' It has been called the best book of its kind ever printed." -The School Journal "The very name of this book for boys signifies heart, and its pages are luminous with the teachings of noble sentiments which are equally important to the youth of all nations. As treated by the author, these lessons daily taught by skilled masters, extended through the ten months of the Italian school year, and they are lessons of love and reverence for parents, sympathy, moral courage, patriotism, and genuine democracy. They are taught by stories of valor and sacrifice, heroism, good fellowship, wise counsels from parents and teachers, all portrayed by the master hand of the distinguished author." -Journal of Education "A rich addition to the literature of schools and schoolboys, to the chronicles of the youthful heart and mind, is the recent work of Edmondo De Amicis, an author whose brilliant pictures of travel have made him famous in quite a different branch of literature. 'Cuore' is the journal of a young pupil of one of the great public schools in Turin. It is a book full of animation and tenderness, exquisite sensibility, and manly, chivalrous spirit. The typical Italian schoolboys, very different from their English or American cousins, are here; and all their friendships, rivalries, ambitions and quarrels are so graphically portrayed, that they become, for the time being, a part of the reader's own experience." -The American Magazine "The book should go with every young boy's Christmas gifts this year." -The Literary World "The beauty of gentleness united with courage is the lesson running through the Italian boy's journal, 'Cuore.' No one who reads the book will wonder at this demand for it." -The Chautauquan