Pisa Loves Bella is an uplifting, rhyming tale as told by Bella, Italy’s famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. For hundreds of years, Bella has felt proud of her gravity-defying tilt; but her confidence is tested one day when she overhears hurtful words about her appearance. Bella responds by making a big change—one that leaves the residents of Pisa and visitors from around the world worried that their treasured tower will never be the same again.

Splashed with joyful art, memorable rhymes, and Italian expressions, Pisa Loves Bella is a celebratory and heartfelt story about kindness towards others and yourself. This delightful book will inspire a child’s curiosity about Italy’s famous tower while delivering a profound message and timeless lesson celebrating individuality and offering compassion to others.

Through Bella’s transformation, readers are reminded of the importance of resilience and self-love. With its engaging storytelling and universal themes, this book offers a delightful journey through the picturesque city of Pisa. The vibrant and enchanting illustrations capture the charm of Italy and the big-hearted, life-affirming spirit of Italian culture.

This book is perfect for families looking to get their kids excited about a trip to Italy. It delivers the right amount of wanderlust with a glossary of Italian words and a history of the tower’s signature lean as a bonus. Best of all, its deeper message of kindness and acceptance will spark a larger, more valuable conversation. This is a sweet story about the differences that make us unique.

A different approach to the common subject, and no mistake. This has the Leaning Tower of Pisa as the main character – typically lovely and loving, welcoming all-comers to the Cathedral Square. But when some tourists bad-mouth her and cast aspersions to her looks and use, she takes against the diss and straightens up. The moral is clearly along the lines of 'make kindness part of who you are', as the tower loses a lot of her appeal when she stops being who she is intended to be, and listens to the bad words of others instead. Turns out, people in Pisa would much prefer her to have stayed in the same flawed state she always had been. Bright colours, a good friendly design aesthetic, a smattering of Italian vocab, and a fine way with rhyming go to the credit here, although I didn't like the way speech bubbles here and there interrupted the flow. They didn't distract from a four star success, however – this does also act as an early geography book, too.!

Who would have thought to take a story about a leaning building and infuse it with a lesson about acceptance and kindness?

I absolutely love the history of Bella, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, pointers in speaking Italian, and the opportunity to learn about being a better human along the way.

This is the perfect book to inspire a young traveler-to-be.

Pisa Loves Bella is a very fun children's book about a little girl's trip to the city of Pisa where sits the world-famous leaning tower. I thought it was quite interesting to make the tower "alive" and insecure about her tilted appearance, basically what makes her so special and precious. The illustrations are bright and colourful. A very entertaining story. Recommended!

This was such a cute story about the importance and value of embracing your individuality and the power of kindness. The writing flowed really well and was a joy to read. I particularly loved the inclusion of Italian phrases and the glossary at the back of the book. The ilustrations were beautiful and bright, I really enjoyed the style.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Ah, a magnetic concept. The idea is creative and teaches kindness through its interesting characters and story. Its prose is a combination of poetic and fun, and the illustrations/pictures depict relatable, entertaining and sweet situations. It is such a lovely book that can be cherished by children up to age 10. This is not to say that older children and adults will not find value in it - on the contrary. Nice book to gift, share and read with your loved ones. Pisa has never been this adorable.

A cute story about the importance of being you because your genuine self is the one that people love most. Sometimes people say things that make us sad, but being yourself is, and listening to your friends that love you are the best thing to do.

This book surprised me. It turned out to a very adorable tale about self-acceptance and had a lot of disability representation as well. It was truly adorable and I would 100% buy this for my child's library, if I had a child

Pisa is a town in Italy and it is famous for its Bell Tower known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Some mean kids made Bella the Bell Tower feel bad and unloved so she dreamt of what it would be like if she was like every other Bell Tower. The story rhymes, and has a basic Italian glossary at the end.
The illustrations by Kate Kronreif are clear, imaginative, colorful, and informative and FUN.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your local public library! Books on IVY Kids are planet friendly.
I requested and received a free temporary review copy on Adobe Digital Editions from MB Publishing | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 30 Jun 2024

Pisa Loves Bella is a fun and engaging picture book for all ages. Bella is a famous tower that has always been a little imperfect, marked by the way she leans to one side. After overhearing people commenting on her uniqueness in a not-so-nice way, Bella becomes self-conscious and wants to change. But with the help of Pisa, she realizes she’s perfect just the way she is. This title is beautifully illustrated, and the story is the perfect opening to bring awareness to how we’re all different and all worthy. I loved it and would definitely recommend it to every classroom and library!

Meet Bella the bell tower as she shares her story with the people of Pisa.

This is a thought provoking tale showing the importance of being kind and how you should never change yourself for other people. Individuality is a gift.

What a powerful message that is conveyed in this book. Be kind. This is a lesson that will never get old and I felt the way it was expressed in this book was creative and engaging.

I also found the history around the tower and the glossary to be a brilliant touch.

I recently moved to Italy but have sadly yet to visit Pisa, I loved the look of this little Italian children's story about their leaning tower. A lovely rhyming story about the damage of harsh words, with a message to focus on the positives and self-love, this beautifully illustrated story is perfect for children. The illustrations were super bright and engaging, perfect for the style and content. I loved the inclusion of some of the easier and more well-known Italian words/phrases to teach a little bit of Italian and make it feel even more authentic since Bella (the tower) is the narrating character. The glossary at the end that translated and explained the Italian bits was good too. I also really liked the fact there was a little section at the end with more information at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There was info in there I didn't know and will teach the kids a little more about the tower on top of the nice story and its message.

I adored this book and I think children will love it too. This book teaches children about kindness and acceptance. The illustrations are well-designed and eye-catching. The story was written creatively. By this I mean, it's not just straightforward saying to be nice and accept others. The characters guide readers into learning about kindness and accepting others as they are.

Love Always, Catherine

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Cute Cute Cute! Loved this book and the underlying message. It was educational and it taught a message to my taught so you can’t go wrong. Plus she has been to Pisa so it was fun to look at photos of our trips after reading the book.

What a cute book! I loved the colorful illustrations and the use of (small) italian words. It tells you a little about the history of the tower, but this story also comes with a message: be yourself. I loved it!

This was such a cute book to read and I definitely want to read it to my nieces and nephews! The art was so colorful, bright, and beamed happiness. This children’s book follows the story of Bella, a bell tower, in Pisa who becomes sad when people say mean things about Bella’s appearance. This causes Bella to become very upset huffing and puffing until Bella undergoes a huge transformation. Now Bella sees things from a new perspective, much higher than before, where Bella can now appreciate rainbows, sunsets, stars, and more! After this transformation everyone worries they will not see Bella, the leaning tower, the same anymore and Bella learns to love who she is flaws and all. I think the overall message of this story was to become accepting of one’s self and to watch what you say to others. This is very important for kids to learn at a young age!

I thought the story was cute, however, I feel like it might not make sense to a child who doesn’t understand the background information about the leaning tower of Pisa. The illustrations were cute.

Cute book! We love books like this so we can learn about the history and culture of other places. This book is both of those things as well as social emotional learning.

The illustration was amazing .Bella the tower was a good name.I liked the sentences rhyming.It does seem targeted towards kindergarten age.I also liked there was a glossary in the back of the book.Thank you net galley for an early copy.

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


Rating: 5 stars

This was a cute book. When I was little I was gifted a figurine of the leaning tower of pisa that I loved. So I can imagine that I would've loved this book. I thought the illustrations were charming. If I had children, I would read them this book.




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