My First Book of Sicilian History Thirteen Different Cultures in 5000 Years

Sally M. Veillette is an Italian-American who has spent the last twenty years living on and working with the island of Sicily. Being her maternal grandparents' ancestral home, Sally has more relatives in the small southeastern town of Ragusa than in all of the USA. This was one reason she chose to raise her daughter in Sicily for her formative years-a choice Sally "would make again today," she says. "The depth of Sicily's cultural roots, no matter how 'difficult' or 'downtrodden' some of their historical periods were, provides a foundation that one feels as soon as one steps foot on the island." Her Sicilian Roots series is made up of three books-a coloring book entitled "Let's Color the History of Sicily," this elementary school workbook entitled "My First Book of Sicilian History," and an illustrated history book entitled "Sicilian Roots." Sally is also the founder of the Italian non-profit "Associazione Hands-On Sicily," that promotes all things Sicilian and creates opportunities for the island youth to interact with the world. Some of their projects have included the island's first international youth soccer tournament featuring an A.C. Milan youth team, an English language youth summer camp taught by tourists, Sicilian cooking classes taught by grandmothers, a music CD called "Sicilian Heart" featuring Sicilian children's voices, an event in Palermo for international students to study the mafia, and hosting the American Pickers television crew for their "Sicilian Standoff" episode in which she appeared. To contact Sally, please write to sally@handsonsicily.com.