Thank you to Nightingale Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book for my students. This was a cute story, but I think it's too long for my speech students and a little confusing due to the formatting. Because of these points, I have to give this a 3 out of 5 stars.

When Mozzarella and Fontina’s parents leave for New York in search of a treasure, the little kids are left with their nonna. What ensues next includes mischief, squabbles and sone delicious cooking of a beloved dessert.

I would have totally loved it if the book was slightly longer and didn’t left on a cliffhanger. Now I have to wait for part 2 of the book. Phew!

Overall, good read and loved the illustrations.

Rating - 3.8/5

A big thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is a children's book. Mozzarella is a mouse who lives in a church with his grandmother. Set in Tuscany. This short story has no real ending. It felt like it was a chapter from a larger book. I found this to be an odd book, leaving me with more questions?! Where are his parents? 3 stars I imagine that this is the first in a connected series.

Weirdly short, this is just the first chapter of a larger story, sold as a stand-alone entity. We're with two mice, living in Tuscany with a grandmother, as their parents are in New York, but now missing. The purpose of this fragment of whatever mouse tale we're due to get is to set some mystery up, and for the kid mice to be distracted by the cooking of a cheesecake – which leads to sibling dispute. In a spoilerific way I'll say that gets resolved, but absolutely nothing about the full quest does, before we get some bonus Italian lessons and the cheesecake recipe.

The illustrations that are on every second page, alternating with about five lines of narrative for each text page, aren't that appealing, as they highlight the gangly hands and extended ears and snouts of the characters, while trying to dress them up in some peculiar humanoid way. And the version of this I saw suggested some better proof-reading for punctuation might be in order. All told, it's the incompleteness of this that marks it down – especially for the RRP asked for this we deserve a full story. A dollar or two a month for an ongoing subscription to this as e-books and it might have been closer to being worth recommending, but as it is it really isn't.

Thanks to Nightingale Books and NetGalley for providing a review copy ebook. This review of NOT spoilers free, so expect spoilers for the story ahead.

Jenna James's "Mozzarella" is, for me, a slightly confused story with big aspirations that come from a good place. Let's start with what I liked about the book. Part of the goal of "Mozzarella" is to give the opportunity for bilingual readers, or early readers interested in Italian as a language, a starting place to learn words and phrases. The story features a cast of characters named after mostly Italian cheeses, and a villain that uses a Dutch cheese for a name instead which I couldn't help but smile at. Everyday words and phrases from Italian are spread out among the book (nonna, bambini, grazie), and the inclusion of some activity pages at the back of the book that use both Italian and English is a very thoughtful addition that brings more words into the vocabulary. However, I believe a pronunciation guide (either as a seperate page, or by adding superscript pronunciation above the words the first time they appear, e.g. GRAT-ZI, BOK-ON-CHI-NI) would not only be helpful but is almost essential for young readers who do not have access to someone with knowledge of Italian.

Secondly, the artistic style calls to touchstones like the 2008 Universal Pictures adaptation of "The Tale of Despereaux" (orig. by Kate DiCamillo (2003), dir. Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen), with large expressive ears and similarly large facial features. Background work and non-character details are really where the visual work shines, with wide shots of Tuscany, snapshots of other well known cities, and well rendered map work filling the pages. Unfortunately, the visuals suffer a lack of varied palette work, or effective use of light and shade. In panels where there are multiple mid-toned or brown characters, it might be more effective to use a darker toned background, or opt for a different colour palette completely. This is not the case in many of the panels in the book, which leads to characters blending in with the background, or not drawing the eye as clearly as one might hope for in a children's book. The character of Nonna is a particular study in the need for variance in lighting, as her almost entirely neutral and brown toned character blends seamlessly into similarly toned background on multiple occasions. Visual art and artistic style is deeply subjective as a topic, and while I personally feel the character artwork is not to my taste or requires refining, it does work servicably in capturing the reader's attention and remains mostly consistent throughout.

The story is where I have some difficulty. Ostensibly, the story is about Mozzarella and his sister Fontina helping their grandmother Nonna di Ricotta to make a New York style cheesecake. The two children get into a squabble, Fontina lies saying it was Mozzarella's fault, who is then punished. Fontina, feeling remorseful, owns up to her mistake and is gently reprimanded, and Mozzarella is forgiven, leading to an effective life lesson for the main characters and the reader.

Crucially though, this is not where the story starts. This part of the story starts a third of the way into the book, preceded by a far more dense story surrounding the children's parents, who left their home to meet their grandfather Zio, who is also on a quest to reclaim a great treasure from an evil prince. Mozzarella's parents never arrived and are now missing, but Nonna believes Zio will find them in the end. You might imagine that this part of the story focusing on the loss of his parents, the indeterminacy of their return being a focus, leading to Mozzarella exploring his emotions about all of this compared to his sister and his Grandmother, using pictures and postcards sent by Zio as a framework for exploration, but instead of this James immediately barrels straight into a story about children learning to get along and tell the truth. The story never returns to these larger world concepts at all, ending on a cliffhanger, building towards future published stories. It all feels disjointed as a reading experience, the intrigue of the first part of the story is lost, and the heartwarming lesson that follows is completely lampshaded by the far denser lore implications of the opening. All of this against the backdrop of it being billed as an edu-tainment piece confuses things even further. It feels a little like this book is trying to be too many things at once, rather than focusing on being one or even two things really well.

As this is Mozzarella's first adventure into the traditionally published sphere, I hope to see these aspects of storytelling refined as his story grows in the telling, but it makes it very difficult to recommend this book straight out the gate to parents or guardians looking to introduce children to Italian language concepts in an engaging way. I believe that Mozzarella's adventures will be far more engaging the more titles in the series are released, but in it's current iteration I would suggest readers go in cautiously optimistic about his future, and be prepared for a lot of unanswered questions. It's worth noting that "Mozzarella" was originally published independantly, and was later picked up by Nightingale books, and is a full 18 pages longer in this version, which might have brought about some editorial changes between publication. Unfortunately after a short search I could not easily find an original copy to compare with, and the Amazon listing for the 2022 version has been removed. Whatever the case may be, I hope Jenna James's next dip into Mozzarella's life starts to answer some of the audiences questions, and lead to a more well rounded product for young readers to grab on to.

Love the meet the family at the beginning as it makes it clear who is who straight away. I enjoyed the way the words where on one side and the illustrations where on the other as it makes it visually appealing and easy to read the words.

Detailed illustrations especially on the postcard and airplane tickets. Great book for asking what, when, where, why, and how. ;ike the added recipe for New York cheesecake at the back would be a great activity for students after reading the book.

These little mice are my favorite mice since Fivel. My daughter kept telling about their giant ears and pretending she was one. I love that this book includes activity pages and a recipe for cheesecake! But I need to know what happened to the parents!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This book reminded me of one of my favorite books from when I was a child - The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, the difference being that this book was a picture book and not a chapter book. I thought this story was very sweet and I also enjoyed the illustrations. Highly recommend this adorable book!

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Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the eARC! This is a cute story about an Italian Mouse and his adventures. A cute way to introduce young children to life in Italy! I like how the author throws in Italian words too throughout the book and the vocabulary game in the back is a nice added touch. The mice in the story have giant ears which make them look very cute too!

A picture book that's clearly borne from the author/illustrator's love of Italy and the Italian countryside. The story follows a family of mice, all named after various cheeses, as the brother and sister learn how to overcome disagreements. It's a simple story but unfortunately much of the action happens off the page (eg the finding of the urn, the making of the cheesecake). It's also somewhat disjointed. It begins with the discovery of a stolen treasure, which seems like it would be a key story point, but it's forgotten and never mentioned again.
The illustrations were not to my personal taste; they felt computerized, and homogenous from page to page (facial expressions, color palette, etc). But again, this is my personal opinion and art preferences vary widely so you may find the art very much to your liking. And there are several illustrations that are quite nice, like the town map.
My final thoughts: creating picture books is extremely difficult, much more so than most people realize. The simpler the story and illustrations, the more work it takes to bring them to perfection. I commend this author for taking the leap, and I hope she will continue to remain dedicated to her craft. She clearly has the passion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this eARC for unbiased review.

I am a retired preschool teacher, mother of seven and grandmother of two and i have read A LOT of children's books. Mozzarella is a sweet story about a mouse named Mozzeralla and his family - all named after different kinds of cheese. The story takes place in Italy and introduced children to Italian words and even has a little matching game on the last page. The story teaches about telling the truth and about being a good sibling. I loved the illustrations, especially the pictures of the postcards and the train tickets - the details were fun. Lovely book - I would recommend!

This was good! Drawings are simple and clear. Loved the names. I wish there was more elaboration on the mother and father. You get a a glimpse of their story which is interesting and i thought the main story was going to following along with that but it did not. Maybe it will for upcoming books?
Also maybe it was my version, but i felt like there were quotation marks missing from dialogue?

I really liked the Italian elements and cooking bits, but I found the combination of missed family on adventure with the moral lesson a bit awkwardly done. It was great to have the locket scene, but it felt a little clunky. The dialogue was a bit awkward too, even breaking up the sentence with some action words could make it flow better. Still, very charming!

What a great book!
“Mozzarella” is a delightful cheese-filled adventure starring a sweet little mouse and his family. With plenty of heartwarming moments and exciting escapades, this book is perfect for young readers.
The simple language makes it easy for the target age group to follow along, while the moral undertones add depth to the story.

Plus, it’s so much fun that even older kids will enjoy joining Mozzarella on his cheesy escapades!
I even read this to my young adult daughter and she giggled happily through it!

Thankyou to author Jenna James, Booksgosocial publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

Charlene 📚🤗🌸 @lastnownext

Thank you to NetGalley for this e copy of Mozzarella by Jenna James in exchange for a honest review.This is the story of Mozzarella and Fontina, a mouse brother and sister, who are living with their grandmother while their parents are on an adventure in New York City .They learn valuable lessons about telling the truth in this preschool friendly storybook which also has some activities in the back..

This was very short and had a lot of detail about what was to come but it didn’t come in this version of the story. The next book would probably have a lot more substance

The cheese names are great and so is the artistic work

I believe this is a beginning to an ongoing series. Mozzarella lives with his Grandmother and sister Fontina. In this book we learn about telling the truth. We also learn that Mom and Dad are in New York on a quest. I like that the author included a game in the end and a recipe for Cheesecake that is a plus for the cook in the family. I think the illustrations are adorable and full of emotion with Mozzarella and Fontina. I will be interested to see where this series goes as it is off to a great start.

the mouse was so cute and the story was very entertaining!! i'm sure any little kids will love the art and everything about it

This is a cute story but the lack of a satisfying ending makes it hard to recommend. The illustrations are cute but rather generic. The story is too drawn out for a picture book. Overall, a fine book but nothing makes it stand out as particularly special.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much to Booksgosocial / Nightingale Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

This was a quite an odd story, it didn’t really feel completed in anyway and not much really happens. It’s a shame honestly as they hinted at what could have been a great adventure book or a great family story either of the two stories hinted could have made this book great but it didn’t really have either.

We got the lesson of being honest is the best thing to do, an important lesson for children for sure, but it would have also been nice for Mozerella to have still made the cheesecake with his Nonna and sister instead of missing out. We also got a glimpse at what has happened to his parents but the story abruptly ends and we don’t get to further that which isn’t a good things at all, we were lead into it and then got nothing.

The illustrations though cute were also a bit strange, you could tell they were computer made illustrations. I did like all the included actives and the additional Italian facts and language you could learn at the end of the book, i always like book that include extra things for kids to do. Overall I think this could have been a really exciting and wonderful book, but it really wasn’t which is such a shame honestly, it was still good but could have been miles better.