Pinocchio is the classic story of the little wooden puppet who longs to become a human boy and strives to achieve his ambition.
Pinocchio is a delightful character who is full of both humour and pathos. He has the unfortunate characteristic that every time he lies or does something naughty – which he does frequently – his nose grows longer and longer. Pinocchio and his maker, the poor woodcarver Geppetto, have a touching father-son relationship full of love and tenderness.
Fulvio Testa’s illustrations capture the jaunty tone of the story as well as bringing the interesting cast of characters to life.
Everyone knows Pinocchio, the walking, talking wooden puppet carved from a table leg. Pinocchio, an endearing scamp, is always getting himself into trouble. But it isn't the sort of trouble most kids get into. Skiving off school, he is kidnapped by a puppeteer, robbed by a Cat and Fox, and persuaded to visit an earthly paradise where naughty children have perpetual fun - and turn into donkeys. Sold to a circus, then to a man who tries to drown him for his donkey-skin, he miraculously turns back into a puppet and goes in search of his 'father' (whom he must rescue from the belly of a giant dogfish ...).
Throughout these manic adventures he is haunted by the ghost of a Talking Cricket he has crushed to death for giving good advice, and watched over by his personal guardian fairy. All the while, Pinocchio dreams of becoming a real boy. Told with wit and humour, his story is also a moral fable about making the right choices, and what it is to be a loving human being.
Pinocchio is an astonishing work of fantasy which has been toned down and sentimentalized over the years, not least by the Walt Disney film. Everyman returns to a beautifully illustrated early translation of 1916 which captures the vivid inventiveness of Collodi's original.
Each reading of Fulvio Testa's books will reveal something new. -- Junior
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Author
About Carlo Collodi
Carlo Lorenzini was born in Florence in 1826, the eldest son of a cook and a servant, and was brought up in the hillside village of Collodi. He began his writing career as a journalist, writing under the pseudonym Carlo Collodi. In 1875 he began writing for children, adapting traditional tales and creating his own stories. When the first chapter of Pinocchio appeared in an Italian newspaper in July 1881 it was an immediate success. Carlo Collodi died in Florence in 1890.
