A gelato shop in Hungary becomes a hideout for Jews during World War II.

Francesco, a young Italian boy, falls in love with ice cream in every flavor. When he moves to Hungary, to the city of Budapest, there is none to be found as tasty as what he loved as a child, so he opens Francesco’s Gelato. No Hungarian culinary specialties are on this menu. One day he encounters a young boy named Peter who shares his passion. After some years pass, the German war against Jews comes to Hungary, and Peter and his family are in danger. Francesco, who has closed his shop, now uses it to hide them and some other Jews. And in the midst of the darkness, Peter finds a special way to celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of lights. The author’s note informs readers that, years later, Peter (known as Yitzchak in Israel) petitioned Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum, to honor Francesco as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. It is Peter’s daughter-in-law who has written this simple but moving tale of quiet heroism. The delicately rendered illustrations vary from the sunny vistas of Italy to the darkness of the hideout. Faces are expressive, and the scene with hidden families around the hanukkiah (originally molds for chocolate) is especially moving.

An accessible and memorable account for young readers of one man’s humanity during the Holocaust.”
―Kirkus Reviews ― Journal

“Very few people have heard of Francesco Tirelli, one of the multitude of unsung heroes and heroines of World War II. Nor have they heard about how this Italian gelato aficionado emigrated to Hungary, opened a successful ice cream parlor in the middle of Budapest, and, years later, quietly saved many of his Jewish friends and neighbors. But if author Tamar Meir has her way, Tirelli’s obscurity will become a thing of the past. A touching nonfiction picture story book for middle grade readers ages 7-12, this moving tale shows how one person’s courage can make all the difference in the world. Much in keeping with Francesco’s quiet heroism, Meir’s tale of delicious desserts across cultures and intergenerational friendship―along with Yael Albert’s gentle color illustrations―merely hints at the horrors behind the history, without glossing over events. As the story goes, during the last winter of the war, when the Jews of Budapest were in great peril and the demand for ice cream low, Francesco Tirelli hid local Jewish residents in his shop―including his young friend and ice cream lover, Peter―thus saving their lives. Embedded in the book as an extra layer is a Hanukkah story, but frankly, that’s icing on this book’s ice cream cake. Francesco Tirelli’s Ice Cream Shop closes with a brief but welcome epilogue about World War II and the Holocaust. There we discover that the author is the daughter-in-law of Peter, the young ice cream lover that Francesco Tirelli saved all those many years ago.
― Nanette McGuiness, Global ITL ― Website

“In the winter of 1944, Francesco Tirelli (a real person) helps Jews find hiding places from the Nazis, many of them in the back room of his closed-for-the-season Budapest gelateria. While in hiding, teenaged Peter―identified in an epilogue as the author’s father-in-law―creates a menorah using a chocolate mold and cooking oil. The illustrations’ initial rosy tones give way to shadowy blues, which allow the menorah’s light to stand out. The gentle, smoothly translated text doesn’t spell out many details of the Holocaust, but should work well as a discussion starter. A hopeful tale of kindness, resourcefulness, and comfort in Hanukkah traditions.”
―The Horn Book Magazine ― Journal

“An ice cream shop becomes a WWII safe haven in this family story turned picture book. In Italy, Francesco Tirelli (Meir’s father-in-law) stops at his uncle’s ice cream cart every day, even when his mother tells him ‘Enough!’ And he remains devoted to gelateria, eventually opening a successful ice cream shop in Budapest, where he meets a Jewish boy named Peter who shares his affection for the treat. After Nazi forces invade Hungary, Tirelli offers his seasonally closed store as a hiding place for Peter’s family and others, who gather together in the back room, light Hanukkah candles, and pray for the war’s end. Though the picture book format seems young for readers within the intended age range, Albert’s mood-shifting illustrations and the moving anecdote offer an accessible take on a terrible chapter of history.”
–Publishers Weekly ― Journal

“Italian-born Francesco Tirelli loves the ice cream Uncle Carlo sells from his pushcart. After moving to Budapest, Francesco opens his own shop and befriends Peter, a young Jewish boy. When life becomes difficult for Jews during WWII, Francesco secretly offers his shuttered-for-winter ice cream shop as a hiding place for Peter and his family. The daughter-in-law of the real-life Peter, Meir offers a succinct account (smoothly translated from the Hebrew) of Tirelli’s efforts, which led to his 2008 recognition as Righteous Among the Nations (non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust). Befitting a picture book that will attract mostly younger readers, Meir is vague about the specifics that Peter and others endured, emphasizing instead the makeshift Hanukkah the group fashioned from an empty
candy mold. Albert’s upbeat illustrations feature mostly cheery blues and reds; the spreads depicting hiding are dark but not alarming. Only the subtle placement of empty shoes serves to remind of those who perished. A gentle, yet heroic addition to Holocaust literature.”
― Kay Weisman, Booklist ― Journal

“The cov­er art on Francesco Tirelli’s Ice Cream Shop fea­tures a smil­ing boy walk­ing with a grand­fa­ther­ly man, each enjoy­ing a mul­ti-scoop cone of bright­ly col­ored gela­to. The read­er, antic­i­pat­ing a tale of inter­gen­er­a­tional friend­ship and deli­cious food, will not be dis­ap­point­ed but will also be sur­prised. This new trans­la­tion of an Israeli pic­ture book moves from Italy to Budapest, from a young boy with dreams of open­ing an ice cream shop to a suc­cess­ful busi­ness own­er who risks his life by shel­ter­ing per­se­cut­ed Jews. Bright­ly col­ored pic­tures with sub­tle details allud­ing to his­tor­i­cal events and deeply thought­ful text ele­vate this sto­ry to a mod­ern clas­sic of Holo­caust lit­er­a­ture for children.

The sto­ry begins with Francesco’s child­hood. A sense of fore­shad­ow­ing accom­pa­nies a pic­ture of him play­ing with toy sol­diers, mil­i­tary planes, and a small wheeled cart labeled “gelati.” When he moves to Budapest and con­fronts skep­ti­cism about his plans to open a shop, he per­sists in his belief that pas­try-lov­ing Hun­gar­i­ans can be con­vinced to buy ice cream. The set­ting is sin­gu­lar as Albert depicts a tru­ly Mid­dle Euro­pean café, with pipe-smok­ing men and fur-coat­ed women enjoy­ing del­i­ca­cies such as, “Zser­bó cake” and “stuffed Gom­bóc.” Through­out the book, sim­ple expla­na­tions alter­nate with spe­cif­ic allu­sions to time and place, immers­ing the read­er in a dis­tant and for­eign setting.

A young Jew­ish boy, Peter, becomes a reg­u­lar patron of Francesco’s store, but even before Nazis occu­py the city, the pic­tures have alert­ed young read­ers to fright­en­ing changes. Not every­one in Budapest is as friend­ly and unprej­u­diced as the ice cream store own­er. A two-page spread shows Francesco serv­ing a smil­ing crowd of cus­tomers, while the swasti­ka and styl­ized Aryan face on a poster in the cor­ner point towards tragedy. Jews with down­turned faces and glar­ing yel­low stars affixed to their coats walk through the snow against a back­drop of tanks and sol­diers. Meir’s words real­is­ti­cal­ly express Peter’s fears: ‘But Peter’s fam­i­ly was very afraid. They were Jew­ish, and they were no longer want­ed in Hungary…Who would help them?’ Peter, his moth­er, and his father embrace in a kitchen with a Hanukkah meno­rah set unob­tru­sive­ly next to a pitch­er and scale; suit­cas­es and a hasti­ly over­turned chair sig­ni­fy the chaos to come. Albert switch­es her col­or palette, using black and blue back­grounds and fig­ures to high­light the changed cir­cum­stances of the characters.

A Hanukkah cel­e­bra­tion becomes part of Francesco’s coura­geous deci­sion to help his Jew­ish friends. Peter is an active par­tic­i­pant in res­cu­ing the win­ter hol­i­day of reded­i­ca­tion, even as he is hid­ing in a place where ‘there are small bot­tles with tan­ta­liz­ing aro­mas, but there is no hanukki­ah.’ The strik­ing image of hid­den Jews reclaim­ing their obser­vance is poignant. The book’s con­clud­ing pic­tures of an adult Peter with his grand­chil­dren in Israel, along with neat­ly placed memen­tos of his past, are both haunt­ing and celebratory.

Francesco Tirelli’s Ice Cream Shop is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed for chil­dren but will also be appre­ci­at­ed by adults because of its excep­tion­al art­work and intel­li­gent text. A brief ‘Epi­logue’ fills in facts and informs read­ers of Francesco Tirelli’s recog­ni­tion by Yad Vashem.”
–Jewish Book Council ― Website

“Ice cream connects generations and cultures in this nostalgic story of harboring Jewish people during the Holocaust. Francesco Tirelli loved visiting his uncle’s ice cream shop in Italy so much that when he grew up and moved to Budapest, he opened his own gelato shop. Though critics claimed he would never be able to sell ice cream like his uncle, Tirelli established a thriving business in the center of town, where all enjoyed his frozen treats. During World War II, he turned his shop into a shelter to hide his Jewish neighbors. The business became a safe place where the Jewish residents of Budapest could remain out of sight and even celebrate their traditions, including Hanukkah. After the war was over, one of the small children hidden in the shop, Peter Mayer, grew up to open an ice cream shop in Israel. In the epilogue, it’s revealed that the author is the daughter-in-law of Mayer. VERDICT With lighthearted illustrations and a hopeful story, this picture book translated from Hebrew offers an additional perspective on the events of World War II and the Holocaust.”
―School Library Journal