THE MUD ANGELS: HOW STUDENTS SAVED THE CITY OF FLORENCE (Albert Whitman 4.4.24/on pre-order), is the first picture book in English to tell the story of the shocking 1966 Arno flood and its surprising international young heroes. Along with locals, they braved dangerous conditions and ignored communication barriers to save irreplaceable pieces of Italian art and literature. Why? As one of my Mud Angel interviewees told me, “Once in the mud, we were all Italian!”
THE BOOK, BRIEFLY
THE MUD ANGELS: HOW STUDENTS SAVED THE CITY OF FLORENCE
After enormous waves crash into buildings, museums, and other structures in Florence, they leave behind thousands of tons of smelly, viscous, oil-filled mud. Everywhere. Covering everything. A young narrator watches students from the US, Italy, and other countries courageously trek through dangerous filth to save Florence’s rarest antiquities. Their destination is the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF), which houses a copy of every piece of Italian literature. The students are in a race against time (and mud) and the harsh journey is nowhere near as challenging as what awaits them.
PRIMARY RESEARCH: A vast amount of my research is primary. Lengthy interviews with 16 “Mud Angels” gave me an almost multi-sensory experience. I corresponded for months with one of two conservators at the BNCF and the Universita Degli Studi Firenze’s flood studies portal (CEDAF) director (who played my book’s trailer at the Cenacolo of Santa Croce Conference, “The '66 Flood in Florence and Written Memory”). Finally, I connected with Tuscan libraries, and Florentines who lived through the flood during their youth.
INTOSCANA (Tuscan news portal) INTERVIEW (appeared during flood Ciarán): http://tinyurl.com/3ht8ts7z
YOUTH SERVICES CHILDREN’S BOOK REVIEW (Massachusetts Library system):
https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/category/author/karen-m-greenwald/
VIDEOS
1. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__cJYjkC0Nc
2. “What Does A Mud Angel Look Like?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3jsu3NrEEo
Karen M. Greenwald
www.karengreenwald.com
PB: THE MUD ANGELS: HOW STUDENTS SAVED THE CITY OF FLORENCE (2024)
PB: A VOTE FOR SUSANNA, THE FIRST WOMAN MAYOR (Albert Whitman)
Library of Congress: Great Reads from Great Places 2022
Library of Congress: National Book Festival 2022
2022 Kansas Notable Book
IG: @karenmgreenwald
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/@karenmgreenwald
