Background

Gianni Rodari was born on October 23, 1920, in Omegna, Piedmont, Italy. He was the son of a baker, Giuseppe Rodari and Maddalena Aricocchi, a homemaker.

Education

Gianni Rodari studied at Saint Peter's Catholic Seminary in Milan in 1931. After three years, his mother transferred him to the local master's program, from which he graduated in 1937. In 1939 Rodari entered the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, but later, he dropped out.

Career

Gianni Rodari was a writer, journalist, and editor. After education, he started to work as a school teacher, but in World War II, he decided to work as a journalist in the newspaper L'Unita. Rodari also was a director of the Il Pioniere, a leftist political organization. His numerous books for juvenile readers earned him many of Italy's major prizes, and many have been translated into other languages. Several of Rodari's books have proven popular in English translation, including The Befana's Toyshop: A Twelfth Night Story, A Pie in the Sky, and Tales Told by a Machine.

The Befana's Toyshop is the Christmas story about Francesco, an impoverished little boy who never receives presents on the Twelfth Night. The Befana is a female Italian version of Father Christmas, and though ultimately benevolent, she is also a somewhat witchy old lady who rides a broomstick. The toys in the window of the Befana's toyshop see Francesco pressing his nose on the window and feel sympathy for him. As a result, they decide to escape to go cheer him up. Unfortunately, gangsters kidnap Francesco and force him to climb up into the Befana's shop. The Befana rewards Francesco when Francesco doesn't let gangsters rob the toy shop. The toys, after an assortment of adventures, find loving homes.

La torta in cielo concerns a bumbling scientist who mistakenly creates a giant dessert instead of an atom-bomb explosion. The adults in the story do not recognize this error, and the authorities believe the cake is an invading spaceship from Mars. Only the children can see the large cake in the sky for what it is and rejoice at their good fortune. The scientist is at first ashamed of his failure but then is infected by the children's enthusiasm and vows to make only cakes, turning his knowledge away from weapons research. Again, the social implications are obvious to adults, yet the plot is imaginative, the language colorful enough to hold a young reader's attention.

Tales Told by a Machine contains seven short stories, which answer the question, "What would happen if…?" In one story, Venice's canals drown the town, and citizens must learn to live underwater. In another, a piano-playing cowboy rides, and his piano follows him on horseback. A Tinned World tells the story of a picnicking family followed to Rome by the empty bottles, discarded cans, and other garbage left behind. Eventually, the bottles and tins are accepted into the household: the parents sleep inside bottles, while the children's room becomes a coffee can. The message of environmental awareness is undeniable. Another story in the collection, Off with the Cats, concerns a stationmaster named Signor Antonio, who joins a sit-in with a bunch of cats who demand to be represented by a "Car Star" in the constellations. Most of the stories in Tales Told by a Machine share the theme of lost or changed identity.

Treating children with the serious attention they deserve and challenging them through the imaginative use of language and inclusion of "adult" social problems seemed to be a Rodari priority. He invented the disease "televisionitis," caught by children who wasted too many hours in front of the television. He commented on the flaws of human nature and societal ills by imagining the peaceful planet of Christmas trees whose unnecessary government is named "Government-which-does-not-exist." He wrote nursery rhymes about underpaid workers and used the Italian color-coded grading system to emphasize that adults make more severe mistakes than do children. Rodari earned much praise and many awards, and his stories have been translated into English and Spanish. Tales such as La torta in cielo and A Tinned World from Tales Told by a Machine still resonate with young readers.

Achievements

• Gianni Rodari was best known as a writer. La torta in cielo, one of his most famous tales, won him two major Italian literary prizes, the Premio Europa Dralon in 1967 and the Premio Castello in 1968. Rodari also received the Premio Prato for Nursery Rhymes in Heaven and on Earth in 1960, the Premio Castello for Gip nel televisoze in 1963, the Premio Rubino for Il libro deqli errori in 1968, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1970. Additionally, he was at the International Board on Books for Young People Honor List in 1964 and 1968. Besides, the asteroid (2703) Rodari, discovered in 1979, is named after the writer.

Works

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• book

  • The Grammar of Fantasy

    (Considered a visionary in his own time, Rodari's well-res...)

    1996
  • Favole al telefono 1965
  • The Befana's toyshop 1970
  • La torta in cielo 1971
  • Tales Told by a Machine 1976
  • C'era due volte il barone Lamberto 1978
  • Il gioco dei quattro cantoni 1980
  • Piccoli vagabondi 1981
  • Atalanta 1982
  • Il cane di Magonza 1982
  • Storie di re Mida 1983
  • Giochi nell'URSS 1984
  • Il secondo libro delle filastrocche 1985
  • Filastrocche per tutto l'anno 1986

Politics

Gianni Rodari was politically active. During World War II, he joined the National Fascist Party. After the occupation of Italy by Germany in late 1943, the death of two close friends, and the imprisonment of his brother Cesare in a German concentration camp, he became involved in the Resistance Movement and in 1944 joined the Italian Communist Party. After the war, Rodari started to work as a columnist for L'Unita and the director of I1 Pioniere, an Italian organization for children of parents who belonged or sympathized with leftist parties.

Views

Gianni Rodari believed that children's literature should treat significant social and political issues while simultaneously exercising the child's imagination and verbal skills.

Interests

• Music, drawing

Connections

Father:

Giuseppe Rodari

Mother:

Maddalena Aricocchi

Brother:

Mario Rodari

Brother:

Cesare Rodari

Wife:

Maria Teresa Ferretti

Daughter:

Paola Rodari