Everyone claims to have easy books for beginners, and I’ve bought them all, but they seem to be for beginners that have been learning for a while. I have been studying Italian for about 4 months and found this book fun and easy(ish) to read. There were a bunch of new words to learn but they also happened to be the ones she highlights and gives the definitions for. I highly recommend this for any true beginner.

I’ve tried other books that were “beginners” before that were definitely not. This book hits the perfect medium between super simple Italian while picking up new words along the way. She highlights words that she would expect us not to understand yet and then has their definitions at the end of each story. She also includes space to write words that you didn’t understand so you can reference them too. The comprehension questions are great too. Short and effective. I’ve half way through this book, and have already bought a few more of them in anticipation.

I have been trying to learn Italian for too many years. I greatly appreciated this story as it engaged several tenses and pronouns which have always eluded me. I particularly liked the explanation of "lo" and "la" which I have run across before and assumed the proper meaning (it) but was never actually sure. Thank you and I will read more. It makes me comfortable when reading other Italian documents.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I'm guessing that I'm an A2 level self taught student of Italian and this book checked all the markers of a great read for comprehensible input: it was interesting, it covered a topic of interest to many .. travel, it wasn't too hard nor too easy, it included a glossary in each chapter, plus optional questions to answer at the end of each chapter, it opened my eyes to an aspect of culture and Italian geography I knew nothing about, plus there's an audiobook available for a small fee. Thanks for a fun read and looking forward to more.

This is one of the most effective Italian learning tools on the market. In my quest to learn Italian, I have purchased textbooks, grammar books, audiobooks, and workbooks with repetition drills. All of these efforts proved to be disappointing, boring, and tedious. Luckily, I found Serena‘s short stories. They are beautifully written and constructed in a way to achieve maximum learning. it’s amazing how much I’ve acquired in the way of grammar, vocabulary, and useful phrases just from reading and listening to the audio over and over. The exercises, explanations and questions at the end of each chapter are a definite plus. I can’t wait to start Serena’s next one: Short Stories in Simple Italian: Le Avventure di Paul a Roma. If you’re looking to make great strides in your journey don’t miss these treasures. Lucia Alessio

This book is written in a manner that allows a student to investigate the basics of Italian language by easily tracking the storyline and learning words by the way they are used in the context of the story. It allows the reader to move along relatively smoothly. Short chapters invites one to reread the text frequently without getting bored. The way phrases and select Italian words are highlighted, indicating a definition is offered alongside, makes quick reference that does not stop the reading effort. I have only one regret. I so wanted there to be at least a dozen more of the A1 level books. They are great refreshers to help one get back on track when planning another trip to Italy. I cannot recommend highly enough.