Io dentro gli spari

by Silvana Gandolfi

Santino vive in un piccolo paese in provincia di Palermo. Il padre lo porta spesso con sé quando incontra certi amici, dice che la sua presenza può fargli comodo, ma non lo lascia mai scendere dalla macchina mentre sta fuori a parlare con loro. Suo papà ha dei segreti. Lucio vive nella periferia di Livorno con la madre e la sorellina. È lui l'uomo di casa, anche se ha solo undici anni. La piccola Ilaria non ha mai conosciuto il padre, che lavora in Venezuela. Ma perché non scrive e non telefona mai? Lucio conosce il motivo, è il suo segreto. Ci sono tante cose che Santino non capisce, mentre Lucio ne capisce fin troppe per la sua età. Qual è il punto d'incontro tra queste due vite, così diverse da quelle di tutti gli altri ragazzi? Ispirato a una storia vera, un grande romanzo che affronta uno dei problemi più grandi del nostro Paese, e che racconta di vittime innocenti, colpevoli solo di essere nate dalla parte sbagliata. Ma questo non è un romanzo d'inchiesta o una è una storia vissuta ad altezza di bambino, che solo un'autrice come Silvana Gandolfi poteva raccontare.

Genres: Young Adult, Middle Grade, Italy, Fiction, Thriller, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

222 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Born in 1940, she's an Italian children author.

Reviews

[Karen Witzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA thriller translated from Italian and based upon true events involving the Mafia in Sicily and efforts to bring killers to justice.

Originally published in Italian in 2010 as, “Io Dentro Gli Spari,” “Run For Your Life,” was written by Silvana Gandolfi and translated by Lynne Sharon Schwartz and was a 2019 Batchelder Award Nominee for translated children's books.

Two Italian boys, one older, one younger, one in Palermo, one in Livorno, find their lives affected and ultimately intertwined by the long fight against the Mafia in Sicily. The plot may be very appealing to young boys as it involves a highly masculine world of criminals, danger, police, justice, and family responsibilities. The violence is real, but never gratuitous.

Readable and exciting -- I never saw the big twist coming.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sure got my attention.

On Sicily the Mafia is still ruining families` lives, ready to murder even young children. It sounds like a horrible children's book, but Silvana Gandolfi has a deft touch and this reads easily, with some lighter bits and very likable protagonists. That is to say, it's both truly exciting and truly wise, and I highly recommend it.

I will look for more by the author as her works get translated.

[Gertrud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definirlo un libro per ragazzi è riduttivo. La storia è semplice, ma molto intensa. La realtà del racconto supera decisamente la fantasia.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho divorato questo libro con una ferocia che non avevo da tempo. Ho riso e ho pianto, ho avuto i brividi ed ho scalciato per l'ansietta narrativa.
Un libro che mi ha scelta dallo scaffale della libreria e che non conoscevo. Sarebbe bello che più persone leggessero racconti come questo, specialmente se pregni di messaggi importanti e segnanti quali i crimini di mafia.
Lo consiglio a tutti.

[Gian Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeez, voi non lo sapete ma da bambino ero la Greta Thunberg della mafia. Leggevo tutti sti libri e volevo diventare un magistrato. Poi ho conosciuto la figa. Scherzo, non mi permetterei mai

[Magdalena · Rating 5 out of 5]

wirklich super spannend. traurig, wahr, ..

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Run For Your Life tells the two stories of Santino and Lucio side by side. Santino is a six year old boy living in Palermo, Italy who is amazing at running. His father, Alfonso, always boasts of Santino's speed. As Santino and Alfonso spend more and more time together, Santino realizes his father has a sneaky personality. One day, Alfonso, Santino, and Santino's Nonno (grandfather) take a trip to the Ghost Town, a once beautiful town that is now destroyed from an earthquake and looting. Here, Santino watches as his father and Nonno are murdered by a family friend. Then, he witnesses as the family friend turns the gun on Santino. He relies on his speed to outrun the bullets to save his own life. Lucio is a twelve year old boy living in Livorno, Italy who is the man of the house due to his Father's move to Venezuela. All Lucio wants to do is sail on the sea in an Optimist, but he is stuck watching his little sister, Ilucia, all day because his mother's legs are swollen so badly she can't walk. His mother is convinced that is she has been cursed by a magna (witch doctor), but Lucio doesn't believe in this foolishness. Suddenly, these two boys' lives meet in a twist of fate that takes the reader by surprise.

At first, this book is confusing because the chapters switch off perspectives between the two boys, and without careful reading, this can go unnoticed. However, once the reader picks up on this special book format, readers in grades 4 through 8 will enjoy learning about the lives of each boy. They will be sucked into the book even more when the boys' lives intertwine for an unexpected turn of events.

One thing I've noticed about this book and other international books is that the books revolve around the theme of sadness. I was happy to learn that this book ended on a positive note after all the characters went through such extreme hardships and sadness.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Empecé pensando que no era un libro del que se pudiera esperar mucho pero he cambiado de idea completamente.
Nos cuenta la historia de Santino, un niño que vive en una familia metida en problemas con la mafia, y de Lucio, un niño algo más mayor que vive con su madre y su hermana y está obligado a ser el cabeza de familia.

Lo que más me ha sorprendido es la forma que tienen las dos voces narrativas de alternarse, pues tienen una forma brutal de sorprendernos al finalizar la primera parte de la novela.
De los personajes principales no quiero hablar para no meterme en spoilers, pero creo que estos dos niños protagonistas dejan ver muchas cosas.
En definitiva, me ha gustado tanto por su estilo como por lo que busca denunciar; la realidad de la mafia en Sicilia.

[Franz B.  · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto per poterne parlare con mio nipote che lo stava leggendo in classe (prima media).
Loro non l'hanno finito, io sì, quindi non ne abbiamo parlato.
Non è un po' duro per la prima media?
Forse no, dal momento che i protagonisti hanno quell'età.

A me il libro è piaciuto, scorrevole e incalzante.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro semplicemente FANTASTICO
Indimenticabile, grazie alla geniale idea per la narrazione

[Harry Brake · Rating 4 out of 5]

In choosing Silvana Gandolfi's Run for Your Life, I was looking for the YA international book that would present the possibility of international culture, in this case, Italian, in a true sense while keeping students captivated. I felt I was missing much of this in the YA novel, The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree by Paola Peretti, or at least the details that were transparent through translation to me as a reader. As I read through the novel, I kept thinking of how a more modern-day version of Where's Waldo began to emerge, only geographically. There is no doubt in my mind that through students mapping the plot of this story, the history, setting, and characterization occurring around Santino, and Lucio, begins to emerge. Having a blown-up map and being able to provide plot details of the story through a physical map of Italy, would indeed bring the hectic, minute-by-minute, pace-to-pace action of the story into perspective within Itlay for sure.

Also, without providing plot spoilers, being able to also create a character profile of the main characters, as a reader goes through this novel would be very enlightening. Similar to the flip notebooks police or investigators have, being equipped with such a notebook and having students run profiles on both Santino and Lucio would intensify the plot surprise that is presented to the reader, at the moment that it does occur.

Creating an Italian dictionary, even better, an Italian tour guide book, based on terminology specific to Italy would also be something that helps bring cultural aspects to light, more, magnifying the Italian-specific references to aspects of the neighborhoods, geographic highlights, both fiction and non-fiction that are present in this book. What did stand out to me in aspects of importance were geographical locations and distances of important cities, various food references like sardines and pasta on page 7, as well as the casualness in referring to the bodies of water that were in and around Italy (Gandolfi, 2010). It is amazing to see how well the translation to English again, allows a small difference between what would be found unusual in English or American culture.

Knowing this was inspired by a true-to-life thriller, it would be exciting to have students investigate and research through the Italian Cultural Institute the aspects of this story that have occurred in some sort of real-life form, as well as famous Mafia incidents stemming from Italy, then reflecting on these moments and how they influenced this plot for the author. I am interested in digging a little deeper to discover how this was true-to-life and how this did indeed shape the characteristics, development, and actions of the characters presented. I feel there is a lot of psychology as well that appears in this YA novel.

In examining the theme, I would try to focus on characterization, with themes of honesty, aspects of honor, as well as respect. In addition, the theme of what defines home, trust, and friendships would be excellent to flesh out in any of the above activities. The theme of Mafia and violence is always present, but I wanted to have readers dig deeper than obvious themes from just reading.

Gandolfi, S. (2010). Run for your life. (Schwartz, L. Trans.). Grandi and Associates.

Peretti, P. (2019). The Distance between me and the cherry tree. (Muir, D., Trans.). Atheneum Books.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was originally published in Italy in 2010 and involves a real life mafia event in Sicily.

Santino starts as a six-year-old boy in Palermo, who quickly learns that his father has a bit of a dark side. During a trip with his father and grandfather, Santino witnesses their murder and finds the gun then turned on him. He does the only thing he can—runs for his life. At the same time, Lucio lives in Livorno and cares for his little sister thanks to his mother's health issues. When his mother goes missing, he receives a letter to rush to Palmero. There the two boys' fates collide.

This book starts out written from both Santino's and Lucio's perspectives, their stories very different, at first. It was a bit confusing to bounce between the two, but after understanding how the author wove things, there were no problems sinking into the tale. Not only is this a fast paced story with some very unexpected twists and turns, but being based on real events makes it even more intriguing. Especially boys will enjoy this one. The two characters are easy to sympathize with, and their decisions are simple to understand. There is quite a bit of tension mixed in with the murder and heart-stopping moments. And yes, there is some violence as well. So, more sensitive readers will need to be aware of this.

It's definitely an exciting read, which will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The ending also rounds things up nicely and satisfies completely.

I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed the tale quite a bit. So, I'm leaving my honest thoughts.

[Adriana Bautista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Run For Your Life is a Mildred L. Batchelder Award winning book. I found this book in the Mildred L. Batchelder Award website database. This book can be geared towards grades 5th and up. In the classroom, I would use this as a book to read within a unit to teach main idea and details or character traits. In this book, there are two protagonists that are young boys with difficult family situations. Santino's family's involvement with the mafia gets his family into problems which even causes death. The story tells about his life in Italy and the hardships of growing up in a mafia filled world. Then, there is a second boy that has a difficult life dealing with his homebound mother and all responsibility of his little sister is left to him. Both boys make connections by being involved in this "cruel" world they are both a part of. The audio was a good addition to this book because there were some italian words that I probably would not have been able to pronounce. I think this book might me a little triggering to students if they have a personal connection to situations like this mafia involvement. I would definitely stick to unpacking character traits if I were to use this book in a classroom.

[Martina11 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/3 ⭐
Sinceramente mi ha deluso molto... Capisco che si tratta di un racconto per ragazzi ma mi aspettavo qualcosa di meglio e di meno semplicistico.
Ho trovato la storia poco realistica, soprattutto verso la fine succedono cose al limite dell'assurdo, anche e soprattutto riguardo agli aspetti tecnici del procedimento penale.
Non mi sono piaciute alcune osservazioni sui siciliani, sulla mafia e sugli avvocati. In particolare non mi è piaciuto che l'allontanarsi dalla Sicilia venga visto quasi come unica possibilità per vivere una vita normale...
Una nota positiva è l'espediente narrativo, mi e piaciuto molto e mi ha sorpresa!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letto per curiosità (lo leggevano in classe a scuola della mia bimba) e divorato per necessità....un viaggio in una terra che conosco e che a volte soffro perché mi manca.
un piccolo neo la descrizione del mondo ospedaliero ... alcune imprecisioni. Ma non era importante. Adoro la figura del Cacciatore ... Santino finalmente ha un vero eroe a cui pensare ...
Bello anche nella descrizione della mia città ...
Che dire poi del mondo sacro e dei riti pagani che esistono accanto a questo?
Interessante e da consigliare.

[Alessia Milone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Racconta una storia vera dove il tema principale è la mafia.
La scrittrice ha realizzato un capolavoro molto facile da leggere sia per i più grandi e sia per i più piccoli.
Nonostante il tema possa essere alquanto pesante l'autrice ha reso il libro leggero senza omettere il tema e la morale che c'è dietro.
La storia all' inizio non sembra molto intrigante ma andando avanti ci si renderà conto del contrario. Santino e Lucio sono bambini forti cresciuti troppo presto a causa dell' ambiente mafioso che li circondava.

[MMich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the kind of books that make your expectations upside down, omg. I didn’t had any kind of expectations or wish for read this book, it was for a school task. The whole book is east to read and I could tell since the first chapter, that’s something I have to accept...but what really made me say 'oh my god' was the plot twist, when I realized who those boy were i was upside down! This was a good read

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’avais eu beaucoup d’appréhension avant de lire ce livre mais finalement je l’ai beaucoup aimé !
Pour commencer, avoir deux points de vue était formidable pour la construction de l’histoire, et surtout quand on découvre qu’en faite il y en a qu’un seul depuis le début, suivre l’aventure de Lucio (ou Santino) m’a faite rire, pleurer un peu et m’a aussi étonnée. Ce livre m’a plongé dans l’univers de la mafia Italienne et des conséquences que certains payent à traiter avec elle.

[Alice Sgroi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si presenta come un libro per ragazzi, ma io l'ho trovato veramente molto istruttivo. Inizia con due storie di due ragazzini raccontate in parallelo e scoprire come le due storie convergano in una è stato veramente interessante. Penso che sia un ottimo racconto per fare capire a chi non è a stretto contatto con la mafia, cosa significhi veramente essere cresciuti in quelle situazioni, come il piccolo Santino.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

nicely written although I would put this in the YA category instead of Juvenile. I wanted this for my daughter but after reading the synopsis, I figured I would read it first. I'll give it a couple more years for her.

[Anthony Losee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good book but it was hard to get interested in. Partly because their was not any action parts in the beginning but overall this was a very good book and i liked how it takes place in Italy and gives you a lot of information

[Global Literature in Libraries Initiative]

Shortlisted for the 2021 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative
Translated Young Adult Literature Award

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For more info, visit our website!
https://glli-us.org/2021-translated-y...

[Oleg Montiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta es una de esas novelas que todo el mundo debería leer, tenga la edad que tenga. A modo de novela, muestra la cruda realidad que toca vivir a algunas familias. La inocencia que tiene un protagonista y la fuerza del otro crean una dualidad magnífica que acaban juntándose en una sola.

[Franciii · Rating 3 out of 5]

la prima parte del libro è stata scorrevole e la scrittura molto bella ma nella seconda parte il libro perde punti. Per quanto mi riguarda troppa confusione e sembra che la scrittrice aveva fretta a finire di scrivere il libro, che secondo poteva essere più lungo di 195 pagine.

[Erika Nardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lettura scorrevole e interessante. Tratto da una storia vera, racconta l' "infanzia lacerata", come la definisce l'autrice, di un bambino palermitano, costretto a crescere troppo in fretta ma che riesce ad affrontare con coraggio la realtà mafiosa che lo circonda.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

So intense for middle grades! This Italian author is not fooling around. Amazing adventure and so thrilling.

[Moniquilla Guajara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha gustado muchísimo.
Menudo descubrimiento

[smileyreads :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

L’ho dovuto leggere per la scuola, ma mi ha subito conquistata e mi ha fatto innamorare alla lettura.
Semplice, coinvolgente e reale.

[Beatrice Scarpa]

stupendo

[Debora Viviani · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Una cosa è vera: la mafia in Sicilia esiste".
Così inizia questo libro. Un libro leggero se si pensa che il punto di vista è quello di due bambini, ma un libro molto profondo, perché parla di scegliere tra paura e coraggio.
A causa della mafia, bambini molti piccoli crescono con la consapevolezza di non dover fare gli "infami". Ed è così che si sviluppa l'omertà. Una parola tanto silenziosa quanto pericolosa.
Due sono i ragazzi di cui si parla, due i loro destini. Così diversi ma così simili e intrecciati.
Un romanzo su cui riflettere e pensare.