Skip to main content

My son's first book

I am excited about launching my very first personal blog to write about my lifelong passion: children's books with beautiful narratives and illustrations. They are works of art which open you, even grown-ups,  up to something you might not know or be aware of before.

For this, I believe books can be one of the best gifts to give. Last week, I accompanied my husband to a little bookstore in our town to look for something to bring to our friend for his son's first birthday.

Then, we both fell in love with this book about the moon and a little girl by Gianni Rodari, an Italian journalist, educator, and author of children's literature awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1970. 


The book was so beautiful that we ended up getting two copies; one for the birthday boy and the other for our son who was turning four months old on the day his fellow friend was celebrating his first birthday.

A friend of mine once told me she would always buy her daughters books targeting a little ahead of their actual ages. I second her. Although the book is recommended for children aged one year or more, I do not think it is too early for our son to enjoy this book. 

Of course he still does not understand a word, but he seems to like listening to my voice and seeing colours and shapes jump off the pages. I am glad that we found him such a special "my first book." Our friend also told me that the book was already making his son crazy!


Its narratives, written for toddlers, are simple yet profound and poetic. In fact, my Italian husband had to consult a dictionary to explain to me the proper meaning of one of the first words in this book. He said, "you know, Rodari is difficult."

Although I myself am a beginner in his literature, I would say Rodari is beautiful, intellectual, fantastic and a bit surreal. Having read two books by him: this new entry to our bookshelf and Telephone Tales in Japanese translation, that is my impression so far.

Now I am interested in reading more Rodari in the original language, and got four more books published for Italian preschoolers. I cannot wait to read them with my son in the near future. But first, they should serve me as nice Italian textbooks!


About today's book
La luna al guinzaglio
Written by Gianni Rodari
Illustrated by Andrea Antinori
Published in January 2021 by Emme Edizioni
No translation is available as of March 2021


Did you like it? To stay tuned, follow me on Instagram!

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Joy of parenthood

As the old Japanese saying goes, "February runs away," and the eventful March is coming in two days. Back in my home country, it is time for peach blossoms also admired on the occasion of the girl's festival, the third of March. I wish we had those delicate pink blossoms in our garden. But instead, we have pretty yellow flowers of mimosa started to open in time for the International Women's Day. Spring is just around the corner. I said "eventful March" not only for my personal matters but also for my city, Bologna. In one week, the 60th edition of Bologna Children's Book Fair will be hosted here. This annual event, as a book fair exclusively dedicated to the market of children's literature, is the word's largest. Although the fair itself is a business-to-business event, there will also be various art, book, and educational side-events in town on this occasion.    It was back in 2019 that I attended the fair for the first time as part of my resear...
Read more

How does it sound when fallen leaves are dancing in the air?

Autumn is perhaps the best time for kids to have fun in the nature. My son enjoys walking on the fallen leaves, finding acorns and chestnuts in the woods. So the heroine of this book is. This Japanese book I found in my favourite library in Bologna features a story of this girl enjoys walking in the autumn nature. She finds fallen leaves, acorns, bagworms, dragonflies and imitates their movement, as if to dance with them.  The joy of reading this book aloud together with my son is perhaps attributed to the many Japanese onomatopoeias to be found throughout the book. For example, to describe the sound she makes when walking on the ground covered with autumn leaves,  we read, "kasa kasa kasa,"  and if fallen leaves are turning around slowly in the air, we say,  "kuru, kuru, kururi ." How about in your language? I also love the warm watercolour tones of the illustration by Michiko Egashira, the author. At the end of the story, after her father joins her walk, she finds...
Read more