Lyncourt in the 1960s was a haven for Italian families growing up in Syracuse, New York. Lugi Visconti, third kid in the family, moves to Kenwick Drive just in time for Kindergarten at Assumption Catholic. Gramma is distraught over his family moving out her upstairs apartment and relocating all of 2 miles away from the north side of Syracuse.
Lugi meets friendly Germans in a mostly Italian neighborhood and makes lots of new friends on Kenwick Drive. He becomes a junior scientist in The Science Club and learns to capture bugs and nail them to ceiling tiles, or feed them to spiders or lizards. The club’s first carnival is a huge success until an irate parent demands a refund for 500 pollywogs.
Unseen ghouls reside in a scary attic, waiting to capture Lugi if he walks the darkened hallway alone at night. Spirits abound on Kenwick Drive and a seance is held to determine the fate of John F. Kennedy. He’s really not dead, you know, in a time when kids went out alone on Halloween and the Rudolph cartoon only came on once a year.
His Italian Gramma teaches Lugi that food is the solution to all of life’s problems so it’s a dilemma whenever he doesn’t eat enough. They butt heads over his refusal to let her walk him home from school - big boys in Kindergarten don’t need help from their Gramma, it’s embarrassing.
Dad’s most happy while attending clambakes, although he thoroughly suffers the side effects. An ancient backyard neighbor shares Dad’s taste for drink, mistakenly thinks him the father of every child in sight, and offers advice to limit the population growth. Along with his brother, Lugi enjoys the thrill of pulling pranks on Dad while he’s asleep.
Mom runs the household, answers the endless doorbell ringing, and dispenses judgment on all breathing creatures. Being Italian helps, but doesn’t guarantee her approval. Older siblings happily demonstrate the meaning of might means right, and delight in providing Lugi with remedial lessons.
Laugh along and learn ingenious (or at least original) ways how to avoid bullies, safely navigate hostile Nuns, contact the spirit world, talk with tipsy neighbors, and explain the need for a yardstick in the bathroom.
