Review: Bartali’s Bicycle, by Megan Hoyt, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

Title: Bartali’s Bicycle – The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy’s Secret HeroAuthor: Megan Hoyt (with an afterword by Lisa Bartali)Illustrator: Iacopo BrunoPublisher: Quill Tree BooksYear: 2021Pages: 40 pagesOrder: HarperCollinsWhat it is: The legend of Gino Bartali, saviour of Italy’s Jews, as told in a kids’ picture book (ages 4-8)Strengths: The pictures?Weaknesses: Just because it’s a kids’ book doesn’t mean we should give truth a hall pass

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.

Once upon a time, in a golden age when everything gleamed like the sun itself, from the curtains to the wallpaper, from the taps to the showers, once upon a time in this age of gold there lived in that glittering land across the Alps and below the Dolomites a hero. A secret hero. A secret hero named Gino Bartali.