Bees have extraordinary skills. They live in big groups where everyone performs a specific task with great efficiency. Cooperation is the basis of their life. This is why they are called "social insects" and the bee colony a "super-organism". The most important thing they do for our planet is pollination: the transfer of pollen from one flower to another. The relation between bees and flowers is a story of a great friendship that began millions of years ago, and from which the world originated as it is today.

A place without patterns is like a sky without clouds, or like a field of untouched snow. It's a perfectly smooth surface: a rare thing. Everywhere in nature, uniformity is interrupted by stripes, spots, nets, branches and rings: patterns that depend on forces such as gravity or heat, and unfold through regular pace. Federica Buglioni invites readers to observe the forms of nature in order to understand their functioning, and illustrations by Luogo Comune show the visual codes of our marvelous universe.

The balloon man is the master of air. He has a truck that opens like a suitcase, and stands on the road. In all seasons. Even when it rains. The ballon man knows how to tame mothers and fathers, he makes them quiet and peaceful next to their airy children. He knows that every balloon he tightens to a child’s wrist comes with a special light. He can tell by the way children walk away.

The others. A crowd of unknown faces. They do exactly what we do, but they do it in their own special way. They might come from distant places, be oddly dressed. Maybe they come from other planets and we do not even recognize their shape. They are those we love and those we hate. Those who stay close to us and those who live on the other side of the world. Those who look like us and those who are light-years away from us. The others are many, far too many. They are very different from each other, or strangely identical. And they are everywhere. The others are not us. They are the others!

Qui un bebè. E lì, a un passo da lui, tante, tantissime cose. La voglia di arrivare a prenderle si fa sempre più forte: bisogna concentrarsi e andare da qui a lì. Lì, dove c’è la palla, il pane, la musica, dove c’è il pavimento. Lì, dove c’è la libertà (manca ancora un po’). Da qui a lì la distanza è grande, grande quanto un bebè che diventa bambino. Il testo poetico di Isabel Minhós Martins e le illustrazioni di Yara Kono per un piccolo albo che insegna grandi cose a piccoli passi.

Piccole poesie per incontrare se stessi, per nuotare verso la profondità delle cose, per smettere di brontolare, per viaggiare in un millimetro o per rallentare, perché una poesia, allo stesso tempo, può essere piccola e grande come l’universo intero. Il tuo nido, il mondo di Carl Norac, illustrato da Anne Herbauts, autori per la prima volta nel nostro catalogo, tradotte da Silvia Vecchini, per andare, respirare, vivere e sentirsi meno soli.

Beatrice Alemagna is one of the most renowned authors and illustrators of our days. Her books, like Che cos'è un bambino?, which has sold more than 100.000 copies worldwide, have achieved great success. Alfabeto Alemagna is a collection of essays created for her exhibition "Le cose preziose. L’ostinata ricerca di Beatrice Alemagna", curated by Hamelin Association during Bologna Children's Book Fair, 2022 edition.

Anni Settanta, Repubblica federale tedesca: la piccola Anke è impegnata in una visita oculistica. Una forte miopia finora l’ha costretta a sentire solo i suoni delle cose lontane; grazie a un paio di grandi occhiali rossi può cominciare a vedere gli aeroplani di cui sentiva solo il rumore, può riconoscere i personaggi della TV di cui conosceva solo le voci, e finalmente raccontare il mondo proprio ‘com’è’. Conosciamo così la sua famiglia, i nonni, i conigli, sua sorella Eva e la sua amica, il dolore, la rabbia e la gioia, sentimenti complessi che nei bambini spesso coesistono. Uffa!

Looking at a painting or an object in a museum, you may have wondered “Who is the author?”, “Why did they choose this technique?”, “How come their work is exhibited in a museum?”, “Are there hidden meanings?”. Melania Longo, art historian, and Alessandro Sanna, illustrator, invite readers to enter some of the most important museums of the world, observe artworks, play with paintings and artists, and, most importantly, ask questions.

Each painting mirrors the era in which it was painted: faces, hairstyles, clothes, architecture and landscapes in the background change. But there’s something which does not change: gestures, such as a mother holding her child, two lovers kissing, poses on social occasions like a wedding. Through the masterpieces displayed at Pinacoteca di Brera, in Milan, Marta Sironi and Guido Scarabottolo invite children to observe gestures, to learn and recognize their meaning, and to try to reproduce them.