The elephant

The elephant is a classic of Russian literature by Aleksandr Ivanovic Kuprin, which has been translated into Italian for the first time now and illustrated by the very talented Riccardo Guasco. It’s the story of a little girl suffering a disease that has made her weak and loose her appetite. She asks her father an elephant, as the only thing that would make her feel better. Sasha, her father, tries his best to make her last wish come true and manages to bring home “little” Tomi, which turns out to have unexpected healing power.
[Text in Italian]

Sun Moon Star

This masterwork of Northern American literature, out now in Italy for the first time, was originally published by Hutchinson in 1980. Kurt Vonnegut tells Christmas Eve and the birth of the Creator from a very unusual perspective, being ironic and poetic at the same time. So does Ivan Chermayeff with his minimal illustrations. What comes out from their union is true marvel. [Text in Italian]

Listen

Listen. Psalms for little voices is a poetry collection that dates back to the Bible’s ancient times and reaches us today with unchanged strength, relevance and intensity. It’s a guiding voice that helps us discovering ourselves and the world, our need for protection, the fear, happiness, anger, love, despair that we all feel, children and grown ups. Giusi Quarenghi rewrites forty enchanting psalms, with illustrations by Anais Tonelli: a rising star of illustration, being this her first -astonishingly mature- picture book. [Text in Italian]

Six legs and little more

Six legs and little more inaugurates a new collection on nature and science, PiNO: Piccoli Naturalisti Osservatori. It is a practical guide for little entomologists to learn and recognize species of insects, to observe how they look like, how many legs, how many wings, how many eyes they have; whether they fly or jump; if they change colour; if they sting or are harmless; how big they can be; where they live; what they eat. The words and images by Geena Forrest, a young expert on natural science, guide us into observation and practice. [Text in Italian]

Il bosco è tutto intorno

Ci troviamo a 850 m di altitudine, in Trentino, nella Valle di Terragnolo, sul versante nord orientale del Monte Pasubio. La città non si vede nemmeno da lontano; il bosco è tutto intorno; piccoli agglomerati di vecchie case contadine interrompono ogni tanto il verde diffuso. Siamo in un angolo remoto del pianeta.

C’è sempre tempo per la poesia

[di Antonella Capetti]
 
Anni fa, all’inizio del mio lavoro nella scuola elementare (prima avevo insegnato per 17 anni nella scuola dell’infanzia), durante l’assemblea di fine anno con i genitori, la collega di italiano della classe parallela alla mia disse: “Anche a me piacerebbe molto lavorare con i bambini sulla poesia, ma non ho tempo”.