Zofia Ernst (1918–1994): the Art of Life and the Art of Translation

The aim in this article is to present the life and work of Zofia Ernst (1918–1994), an ardent connoisseur of Italian culture and literature and an accomplished translator of Italian books for adults and children. Drawing on D’hulst’s historiographic model (2001, 2010) and Kaczmarek’s topobiographical approach (2013), I address key moments in Ernst’s life. The focus on the life story of this one translator helps me outline the milieu in which she lived and worked as well as show her impact on how the representations of Italian literature took shape in Poland before 1994. I also explore translations of Italian literature for children and young adults that Zofia Ernst produced for the Polish publisher Nasza Księgarnia during the period of 1954–1974, as they still form an under-examined field.

New Families in English and Italian Children’s Literature: An Analysis of the Contemporary Publishing Industry

This article aims to offer an overview of non-traditional families in contemporary children’s literature. The most influential works about divorce, adoption, and same-sex families will be presented, considering both Italian authors and translations from English into Italian. These contemporary themes are developed in picture books for a pre-scholar audience, but also in youngadult novels, covering an extremely wide range of readers. The aim of this essay is to observe how the Italian publishing industry is reacting to these new tendencies that are now very common in many countries of the world but cannot emerge completely in others. Nevertheless, according to recent studies, children’s picture books or novels in which different kinds of families are shown are a particularly important tool to teach diversity and tolerance and to promote modern values.

Pinocchio’s Return: New Developments of a Mythopoesis in Italian Children’s Literature

This contribution proposes a critical analysis focused on a selection of Italian contemporary children’s books conceived as reinterpretations of Carlo Collodi’s masterpiece Le avventure di Pinocchio (1883). Following a long-lasting tradition of works in which Pinocchio’s adventures are adapted, resumed, or actualised, a few books published in the early 21st century stand out because of their ability to establish a deeper dialogue with the original novel, its meanings, and its aspects of interest nowadays. The first work examined, Fabian Negrin’s picture book titled Occhiopin. Nel paese dei bei occhi (2006), is an upside-down reinterpretation of Pinocchio’s story that takes place in a contemporary setting. The second work is a novel by Silvano Agosti, Il ritorno di Pinocchio (2010), which tells the story of a night-time encounter between a little girl and a boy who claims to be Collodi’s most famous character. The third work, Alessandro Sanna’s silent book titled Pinocchio prima di Pinocchio (2015), retells the puppet’s fantastic birth through a series of evocative pictures that expresses the power of nature from a universal point of view. After the individual analyses of the three books, the final section aims to trace some peculiar similarities between them, firstly focusing on the social issues and childhood values identified in Negrin’s and Agosti’s works, and finally, through a comparison of their endings with Sanna’s work, discussing their common symbolic point of view.

Literary Themes in the Children’s Books of Paolo Di Paolo

The article, organised in the form of a discussion, aims to analyse the themes and motifs of Paolo Di Paolo’s works that are addressed to young audiences. The author has recently published a large number of volumes directed just at younger readers. When beholding the titles that constitute the author’s bibliography, the reader is struck by Di Paolo’s predisposition to transform literary classics: as much in Giacomo il signor bambino as in the edition of the Divina Commedia, the author’s goal is to try to reach his new readers. Therefore, Di Paolo proves to be a prolific author of the genre; in fact, in his bibliography, volumes of fairy tales with a classic slant, such as La mucca volante, are listed as well.

Children’s Literature in the World of Apps: Hypermedia Adaptations of Classic and Contemporary Picturebooks

This analysis aims to describe the main features of hypermedia literary apps for children by considering a corpus of adaptations of classic and contemporary picturebooks. In particular, it highlights the multimodal nature that defines hypermedia texts and their meanings, as well as the interactivity that programs different degrees of readers’ involvement and the various ways of using and exploring the virtual space of touchscreens. By describing some hypermedia features deployed in a selection of classic texts, I focus on the hypermedia adaptations of three contemporary Italian picturebooks: Iole, la balena mangiaparole by Gioia Marchegiani, Amico ragnolo by Gloria Francella, and Love, the App by Alberto Vanni. These were chosen to illustrate the significant literary use of several textual materials, the implementation of different types of interactivity, and the recreation of the material characteristics of the print edition through the virtual page. Founded on the appropriation and re-interpretation of the source, the adaptations considered here show a mix of literary intents and digital technologies, while highlighting the substantial homogeneity of the hypermedia strategies used in adapting classic and contemporary texts.

Roberto Piumini’s Fables as Italian Lessons

Our research intends to find selection parameters for children’s literature to be used as a fundamental part of a foreign-language curriculum. We achieve this through an analysis of the educational and cultural-linguistic advantages of this literature. Our project’s goal is to expose our students to Italian literature using their second language, rather than their first one, as a way to convey cultural meaning. This educational project was conducted in 2015, in a school in Chicago that offers classes of Italian Language and Culture to children at various linguistic levels, including the English-Italian bilingual one. Our research paper is divided into three parts. The first part introduces a theoretical excursus on the meaning of children’s literature and on the fable’s structure as a literary genre. The second part presents examples of how a specific text (L’albero delle fiabe by Roberto Piumini) was selected and used during the project; this part also includes our comments based on the observations of the child participants. Finally, the analysis stage describes the generalisation of our data within a framework indicating how to select a literary text, which may be useful for other teachers when deciding which children’s books to use and how to apply them to educational curricula.

Journeys of Pictures and Words: Teaching the Italian Language in Primary School with Picturebooks and Silent Books

Picturebooks (and silent books, with images only and without words) are children’s books commonly considered suitable only for young children of pre-school age or in the earliest years of schooling. For this reason, picturebooks are mostly neglected in teaching in higher educational stages. Nevertheless, the educational potential of picturebooks is considerable, especially in the later years of primary school. For example, in Italian language teaching, they can be extraordinary tools for planning didactic projects that allow instructors to integrate the teaching/learning of all linguistic skills and of metalinguistic reflection, which are the main elements in the curricula related to Italian language teaching in Italian-speaking countries and contexts.
The article aims to show the validity of the above claim by establishing a possible classification of picturebooks into six distinct types and by describing some didactic projects and activities developed in primary schools in Canton Ticino (Italian Switzerland). Focusing on the pleasure of reading engaging stories and on motivation, picturebooks enable teachers to pursue ambitious and challenging goals, such as creating one or more new picturebooks inspired by the one read initially or transposing a picturebook into a theatre script. At the same time, picturebooks enable students to develop their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.

Is Children’s Literature in Italy Still the “Cinderella” of the Literary Market? An Analysis of LibeRWEB ’s Reports

This paper analyses the publishing trends of children’s literature in Italy on the basis of the annual reports issued by LiBeRWEB. The analysis, which focuses on the book publishing market, starts by introducing the main Italian publishing houses, in whose hands the publication of children’s books is concentrated. The paper will also talk about independent micropublishing by introducing the most active publishing houses, which are specialised in specific areas, such as gender studies. The publishing market will be progressively investigated by analysing several data, which suggest that literature for children and young adults is the driving segment of the Italian book publishing market. Indeed, despite the economic crisis, this is the only segment that has had positive results in the last years. In particular, the data examine several elements, which will allow us to understand such a phenomenon. If in the last years the so-called “high literature” has lost many percentage points (-7.6% in 2009), the “Cinderella of literature” has, instead, obtained positive results (+4%), maintaining constant production levels. Despite the use of percentages, the analysis takes into consideration other elements, like the quality of works, whose criteria are difficult to establish. The data show a positive change: if up to 2006 the number of novels of mediocre quality was high, probably do to a consumer trend of the market, from 2007 onwards, the situation progressively improves. Finally, the article briefly discusses the data of the digital market by analysing the role of audiobooks and e-books in the Italian market of children’s literature.

“In this House We Are All Dead”. What Pinocchio and Other Children’s Classics (in Italy and Elsewhere) Actually Talk About

In an attempt to find a possible criterion according to which to select the most representative titles and authors in the history of Italian children’s literature, one finds that a very peculiar theme characterises the books that can be considered most remarkable: death. Death, though, in Italian as well as in all the other children’s classics around the world, is not dealt with in a literal way, but in a metaphorical, symbolic, indirect one. Therefore, it is necessary to borrow interpretative approaches from other scientific fields (anthropology and philosophy, for example) in order to understand death’s deepest meaning and to discover that what it stands for, in Italian (and not only Italian) children’s literature, is an “otherness”, a “beyond”, an unknown and non-anthropocentric dimension that children must go through in order to grow up.

Hard-headed children, extraterrestrial adolescents, and cherry - tree grandparents: a metaphorical voyage through the childhoods of some contemporary Italian authors of children’s literature

this contribution retraces the subjects of some novels by contemporary Italian writers of children’s literature. the novels were chosen amongst those that seem to best represent “good literature” that is able to build critical and creative readers and that is inclined to shape its own depiction of reality and to move in a utopian way towards the research. It is a literature that teaches children how to face life’s problems and find the right key to change the world in a democratic direction. the model of “nonconformist” literature to which this contribution refers looks at the epistemological model of Gianni Rodari and the fantastic creativity he uses to tell children about reality without restriction or censure. Rodari’s model has been recovered by many contemporary children’s literature writers, such as Donatella ziliotto, Angela Nanetti, Bianca Pitzorno and Giusy Quarenghi. these authors are taken into account within this article for their ability to see literature as a tool for growth and a support for a child’s identity construction, with particular regard to gender identity, which today is still the focus of stereotypes and cultural conditioning that often weaken the development of children, negating their need to freely respond to their personal attitudes. A fundamental role in a child’s growth is played by grandparents, to whom some of these novels are addressed, as mediators amongst different generations and who are able to support children and young adults in the process of reconstructing their past and planning their future.

Il libro degli animali by Mario Rigoni Stern: An Ecological Message for Children

Asiago-born writer Mario Rigoni Stern, whose centenary of birth was celebrated in 2021, always took a great interest in young people, as amply demonstrated by his numerous talks at schools, where he often addressed ecological problems afflicting the Earth. His Il libro degli animali (1992), a collection of children’s stories illustrated by Xavier de Maistre, characteristically engages with environmental themes by expressing respect for the animal world and admiration for its beauty. Similar to ecological literature for children, Rigoni Stern’s book aims to highlight environmental problems and suggest possible solutions to them. Given this, it is dedicated to inspiring young readers to adopt an alternative way of life, one based on respect for nature and responsible/sustainable practices. This effort is combined with promoting symbiosis with land, as communion with nature is the only viable solution to many of the contemporary ecological problems. Employing ecocritical theories, mostly those related to environmentalism, this paper explores the way in which Rigoni Stern presents his standpoint on and ideas of the natural world to the young reading public. His approach makes Il libro degli animali part of the most complex ecological discourse that he developed in his long literary career.

Getting Lost in La Foresta-Radice-Labirinto: Calvino and the Pedagogy of Landscape for Children

The paper examines La Foresta-Radice-Labirinto (1981), a fairy tale which is one of Italo Calvino’s latest and lesser known works. In what can be regarded as his testament, Calvino looks back on and revives the ecological commitment of his literary production and his attention to the complex relationship between nature and culture, which has been a prominent leitmotif of his writings (from The Baron in the Trees to The Cloud of Smog, and from the adventures of Marcovaldo to the Invisible Cities). The paper offers a detailed symbological and eco-critical analysis of the text, in order to examine an ‘ecology of mind’ as developed by Calvino, invariably sensitive to hybridisation and to the ongoing and often difficult relation between historical and environmental mutations. In doing so, the paper lists and explores the construction of images-icons and figures-types that make up what Calvino calls ‘a pedagogy of imagination’. The paper focuses on Calvino’s dedication to education through fairy tales as a primary form of experience, capable of conveying universal messages to a young readership, and on his longing for an authentic exposure to the environment, where getting lost means finding oneself and where chaos leads to a new order, founded on an ethical search for a more harmonious union of city, human beings and nature.

Lumberjanes and Hilda: Comic Series on Scouts between Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism

Among the forms of children’s literature that deal with the complex relationship between humanity and nature, comics can offer various insights on the topic for boys and girls. In particular, children’s stories have recently revitalized the scout movement, interpreting it through new values related to identity, gender and ecology. This paper will consider two comic book series on scouting, Hilda (Luke Pearson, 2011–2019) and Lumberjanes (Noelle Stevenson, 2014–2020). Both works tell the story of a diverse group of characters involved in scouting activities: the stories, developed in natural settings, portray the growth of young and peculiar characters who, through constant contact with the environment, show a strong respect for both nature and the peer group, in a peaceful and adventurous coexistence with the environment and the different forms of life that inhabit it. The essay aims to develop a first state of the art that highlights new interpretative strands in this literary genre through an ecocritical and ecofeminist lens. The study explores the two works in a comparative perspective, so as to show how comic book narratives can present interesting ecological and egalitarian dynamics, in this case through the experience of scouting.

Children’s and Young Adult Literature from Northeast Italy: An Eco-Axes Analysis from Salgari to Scarpa, 1901–2021

Over the last hundred years and since the Second World War at the speed of the Great Acceleration, the Anthropocene has been intensively impacting the Northeast of Italy and, as a result, redrawn the Triangolo Industriale, shifting it towards the East, whereby its two prior western cities – Turin and Genoa – have been replaced with the production hubs scattered along the Via Emilia and Veneto. The coastal region has seen the foundation and robust growth of Porto Marghera with its freight, metallurgy, chemical, mechanical, shipbuilding, oil and electricity sectors; the Veneto plain has witnessed an expansion of SMEs; and Emilia has become home to multinational corporations. While not subject to industrialisation, the mountains of the Triveneto have not been exempt from a thorough modernisation on the scale unparalleled in the Italian Alps. Considering these changes, this paper surveys a range of literary works from Salgari to Scarpa (via Albertazzi, Zavattini, Buzzati, Guerra, D’Arzo, Pratt, Malerba, Altan, Nanetti, Benni, Rigoni Stern, Molesini, Costa, Corona, Carminati, Sgardoli, Tamaro, Tessaro and Ervas) in order to establish what role is given to environmental issues by the authors of children’s literature in the Northeast and whether (dis)continuities emerge in the body of their writings in this respect. The paper also investigates which authors present an active sensitivity useful for fostering an eco-consciousness and in what ways they do so. The methodology combines an array of critical tools developed in eco-pedagogical criticism, ecofeminism and the NatCul Matrix, geared to answering a series of questions: (1) Is basic environmental literacy offered? (2) Is a critical reflection on human primacy and environmental (in)sustainability implicit, explicit or absent? (3) How are humanity and nature related in children’s literature? (4) How is eco-justice approached? (5) What attitudinal role does the narrative assign to nature?

Ecological Issues in Works by Giana Anguissola and Gianni Rodari

The aim of this paper is to examine ecological issues in Italian children’s literature by focusing on the works of two Italian writers who criticize, from different perspectives, the lack of ecological awareness in modern humans. The writers are Giana Anguissola (1906–1966), loved by the young female readership of the day for her vividly ironic style and rounded female characters, and Gianni Rodari (1920–1980), effectively combining realism and fantasy to encourage his readers’ critical thinking. Anguissola’s Le straordinarie vacanze di Violetta (1964) places the protagonists of her prior Milan-set Violetta la timida in the new setting of the Piacenza countryside, where charismatic Don Piero has revived ancient farming practices: the local farmers do not use chemical fertilizers, machines or herbicides, and they transport their produce to the town by carts. Rodari explicitly addresses ecological themes in some of his articles and in two stories: “Il pifferaio e le automobili” (Tante storie per giocare, 1971) and “Il mondo in scatola” (Novelle fatte macchina, 1973). In the former tale, the narrative unfolds in a city completely overrun by cars, and in the latter, a surreal plot revolves around the problem of waste.

Children’s Books: Education for Ecological Thinking and Current Changes in Non-Fiction

The article analyses children’s non-fiction aimed at developing ecological and environmental awareness, with a particular focus on Italian publishing production. On examining recent trends in the domain, it is possible to observe significant elements of change: an increasing focus on the use of captivating narrative techniques and a great attention to the visual element of the book, which functions both as an aesthetic element and as demonstrative evidence. Observably, communication in non-fiction is more and more premised on narrative approaches that cleverly stimulate imaginative and critical thinking skills. Overcoming the purely informative and scientific content-based communicative paradigm, traditionally associated with the notion of non-fiction, and integrating new forms of narrative writing, recent non-fiction exhibits an emotional-affective dimension capable of stimulating critical reflection, ecological awareness and virtuous behaviour for the protection of the environment in all its aspects.