One Time

Gina Filomena is just a little bit different. She believes in angels, wears bright, flamboyant clothes (presents from her Italian Nonna) and has an imagination that, some say, is far too vivid.

Then Antonio moves in next door: a boy with a wide, wide smile and an imagination to match her own. And when a new teacher asks the simple, but perplexing, questions ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Who could you be?’, Gina sees possibilities opening up before her as she and her friends start to look at life differently.

This is a gentle, absorbing story about the people who move into, and out of, our lives and the impressions they leave once they are gone. It’s about joyful people, loud people, mysterious people, annoying people and inspirational people and how all of them can teach us something about ourselves or offer us a different view of the world we think we know.

Short, pithy chapters reflect the wanderings of Gina’s imagination and make her story really accessible. Although there are no wild adventures or magic spells, this book is hard to put down and will stay with you long after you turn the last page.