Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Salem Main Library | J 398.2 Collodi 2012 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Though one of the best-known books in the world, Pinocchio at the same time remains unknown--linked in many minds to the Walt Disney movie that bears little relation to Carlo Collodi's splendid original. That story is of course about a puppet who, after many trials, succeeds in becoming a "real boy." Yet it is hardly a sentimental or morally improving tale. To the contrary, Pinocchio is one of the great subversives of the written page, a madcap genius hurtled along at the pleasure and mercy of his desires, a renegade who in many ways resembles his near contemporary Huck Finn.
nbsp;
Pinocchio the novel, no less than Pinocchio the character, is one of the great inventions of modern literature. A sublime anomaly, the book merges the traditions of the picaresque, of street theater, and of folk and fairy tales into a work that is at once adventure, satire, and a powerful enchantment that anticipates surrealism and magical realism. Thronged with memorable characters and composed with the fluid but inevitable logic of a dream, Pinocchio is an endlessly fascinating work that is essential equipment for life.
nbsp;
Geoffrey Brock's acclaimed new translation is reissued in an edition for children with over fifty full-page watercolors by Fulvio Testa.
Author Notes
Carlo Collodi was born Carlo Lorenzini in Florence, Italy on November 24, 1826. He joined a seminary as a young man, but Collodi found politics more interesting, as the movement for Italian national unification spread. At the age of 22, he became a journalist to work for the Italian independence struggle. In 1848 he founded the satirical journal Il Lampione, which was suppressed in 1849. His next periodical, La Scaramuccia, was more fortunate, and in 1860 he revived Il Lampione again. Collodi also wrote comedies and edited newspapers and reviews. He took the pseudonym Collodi from the name of the town, where his mother was born and where he spent time as a boy.
In 1861, when Italy became a united nation, Collodi gave up journalism. After 1870 he settled down as a theatrical censor and magazine editor. He turned to children's fantasy, translating Italian versions of the fairy tales of the French writer Charles Perrault's. Collodi also began to write his own children's stories, including a series about a character named Giannettino. The first chapter of Pinocchio appeared in the Giornale dei bambini in 1881, and became an immediate success. He died in Florence on October 26, 1890.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 5-The adventures and misadventures of the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a "proper" boy are vivified in a large-size volume that pairs Brock's lively and readable translation with Testa's colorful artwork. Lazy, impetuous, and lacking even a smidgeon of common sense, Pinocchio makes one ill-advised decision after another, resulting in a series of comical consequences and fantastical mishaps that lands him in a jail cell, almost in the sizzling skillet of a giant green fisherman, transformed into a donkey, and even deep inside the belly of a sea monster. However, his heart is pure, and with the help of a patient fairy and his long-lost "daddy," Geppetto, the puppet finally learns important life lessons along with the true meaning of love. The numerous full-page paintings reflect the tale's wonder and whimsy while playing up the high jinks and humor with amusing visual details. Filled with cherry, mahogany, and oaken hues, the illustrations have the warmth and texture of inlaid wood, which, along with the sunny backdrops and seaside settings, keep the tone light. The characters-whether friend or villain-are depicted with a touch of endearing exaggeration and a twinkle in the eye. An appealing version of a classic, perfectly primed for 21st-century readers.-Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"[T]hough written in the nineteenth century, the original Pinocchio remains as readable as if it had been written in the twenty-first, so limpid and simple is its prose," writes Italian author Umberto Eco in the introduction to Collodi's classic story of transformation. Readers not ready to tackle the story in Italian, however, will be more than satisfied with Brock's lovely 2009 translation, which is accompanied by new artwork from Testa. His gentle, brightly colored cartoons soften some of the darker scenes in the story-such as when Pinocchio burns off his feet or the abuses he suffers after being transformed into a donkey-without minimizing Pinocchio's mischievous nature. Ages 7-14. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Brock's translation and abridgment of Collodi's classic story about a naughty puppet who learns after many adventures to be a good boy emphasizes the slapstick and screwball nature of the tale, somewhat to its detriment. In addition, justified page design makes the heavy text unwelcoming, and Testa's occasional full-page color illustrations are static, cartoonish, and don't advance the narrative. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
An old favorite--the adventures of a wooden puppet whose good heart earns him the right to be a real boy--in a newly illustrated edition of a relatively new translation. First published in Italian in the late 19th century, this childhood classic has had numerous interpretations. Today, however, most American children who know the story at all will know it from the 1939 Disney cartoon, which distorts its plot and mood and makes Pinocchio far more appealing than the original. Translator Brock gives readers Collodi's Pinocchio: a lazy troublemaker, self-centered and distractible, who remains a wooden puppet right up until the end of his adventures. In the first 30 pages, short-tempered Geppetto has had two scratching-and-biting fights, the Talking Cricket has been smashed dead with a hammer, and Pinocchio has burned off his own feet. The violence may well not faze today's video gamehardened readers, who will appreciate the sprightly translation. Testa's pen, ink and watercolor illustrations appear opposite the text, filling the oversized pages. More cheerful in palette and tone than that of Roberto Innocenti's versions (1988; 2005), this cartoonlike art lightens the overall effect. Chapter headings, repurposed as a table of contents for an unillustrated version of this translation published in 2008, have vanished, but the narrative is otherwise complete. Parents and libraries should welcome this edition, appealing and accessible for 21st-century children. (Fantasy. 8-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.