Sand you are among those who “let alone a book for children”, after this article perhaps you will want to try to enter the pages of some story that you would never have considered, to discover that you missed a lot. To assure us that is Mac Barnettin his first book for adults presented a few days ago at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, The secret door (in bookstores from May 16th by Terre di mezzo Editore). A passionate journey – and punctuated by the American author’s own irony – on why it is essential to write today for younger people and on the dignity of literature which can also be very precious for us adults.
Mistreated literature for children and teenagers
In his reflection on how much literature for children and young people is mistreated and on the fact that this derives largely from a deep-rooted (and disrespectful) vision of childhood as a preparatory age for adulthood and not as a universe in itself, with its needs and characteristics, Mac Barnett also reveals to us how much of that universe and the world around us, from the height of our adulthood, we are losing. Instead of looking at childhood and adolescence from above, it wouldn’t be worth it for us adults to start readjust your gaze and learn from children and young peoplereshaping our ability to see the world? It is certain that one of the most powerful means that exist for changing one’s perspective on things and broadening one’s gaze towards others are stories. The good stories.
The union of two worlds
Like those that literature for children and teenagers makes available to us. Those that know how to create a fertile and precious ground of connection and contamination between the two worlds, adult and childish. «Fiction – writes the author – is that special place where adults and children can meet as equals. Equal, but not the same: it is true that adults know many things that children do not know. But it is also true that we have forgotten many things that children know, not only about what it is like to be a child, but also about the world that everyone let’s share.”
Reading as an emotional practice
Can a children’s book, therefore, teach us to see their (and our) world better? It’s at scratch a little those walls of lack of communication that are often created between parents and children, not allowing us to recognize the discomfort and difficulties that lie behind? One of the strong editorial trends that emerged at the last Bologna Children’s Book Fair it is precisely the one that puts the fragility of people at the center of the stories characters, dealing with the difficulties of life and growth. As happens, for example, in The art of falling apart (Giralangolo) by Paul Acampora, which tells the story of three friends with different problems, who will be able to repair themselves thanks to friendship and a course of art therapy. Or not yet The dream repairer (Einaudi) by Linda Traversi, whose protagonist, Maia, feels out of place at home and at school and seeks escape routes through her imagination.
The fantastic element that becomes the remedy for an inconvenience is also the center of Nadia Terranova’s new book, Spark (Mondadori), in which an imaginary little girl who lives in the fireplace at home will help Antonio feel less alone and come to terms with missing his mother. Here certain stories can show us what we struggle to see.
Gabriele Clima, who in his novels addresses delicate and important social issues, such as hardship, diversity, integration, discrimination (his latest work is entitled I promise you (Feltrinelli) and tells of a rebirth after the illness), invites adults to read children’s literature «because it allows them to discover the hidden dynamics of their world, to shed light on silences and walls, to understand a little of the logic and the reasons. And, therefore, to improve our relationship with the new generations.
At the same time, reading a good story also helps us recognize the fragility of us adults, because children’s literature works on emotional mechanisms, not intellectual and cultural ones like adult literature does. Therefore it allows us to practice emotionally, helping us to recognize others and not center the world on ourselves. In practice, children’s literature is a panacea for personal relationships at all ages». And as we learn to see that hidden behind the walls and silences of adolescents, a good story is also able to change our point of view on reality. «Because the kids who are the protagonists of the books, but also the real ones, have not yet developed a single way of seeing reality, rather they are looking for multiple ways. Which is not easy for us adults. For this reason, being able to identify with them by reading a story can positively change our tool for navigating reality, training us in lateral thinking.”
Children’s literature, a reflection of our time
Faced with themes that emerge more and more in children’s literature and which are a very clear mirror of our society, it goes without saying, therefore, that good stories if on the one hand they help children to feel less alone and find ways out, on the other they can also help parents to listen.
As Luigi Ballerini, guidance counselor, psychoanalyst and writer for young people, explains to us, who in his works often deals with the relationship between virtual and real reality and the impact of technology on the daily lives of young people (his latest book is Block 5a dystopian novel published by Il Castoro): «More than once I have heard from a parent that he had read one of my books “Thank you, because I found my son in it”. This has practical implications, including immediate ones, in particular a better understanding of one’s children’s behaviors and a more tender outlook towards the difficulties they may experience. Furthermore, sharing a novel generates a bond in itselfa connection that can facilitate transgenerational dialogue by providing ideas and opportunities for reflections to be made together within mutual listening.”
And so in children’s literature, history and current events increasingly become a terrain for comparison, as happens in the novels of Nicoletta Bortolotti, an author for both adults and children. One of her most loved stories, The children of Gaza. On the waves of freedom (Mondadori), tells of the friendship between a Palestinian and an Israeli child united by a passion for surfing, and has just landed on the big screen directed by Loris Lai. «The children’s marginal gaze on History – he explains – can grasp its essential framework, the hidden watermark that escapes the adult gaze, sometimes dazzled by the spotlight, clouded by prejudice. The children are supporting actors who observe from a half-open door the unfolding of a dramaturgy, they are amphibious creatures that mix sea and land on a shore. And so they recreate the world, reinvent it. Children’s literature is by its nature subversive. He doesn’t talk about politics, but anticipates the revolutions that disturb society. He narrates the things that will come.” And if you are looking for another reason to delve into a story for children, all that remains is to listen to Katherine Rundell, who in her Why you should read children’s books even if you are old and wise (Rizzoli) makes us an irresistible invitation: «Turn to children’s literature to see the world with double eyes: yours and those of the child within you».
The guys behind the great books
In a documented and exciting book, the story of the little ones who inspired the most famous authors.
The film Meet Christopher Robin (2017) tells the life of the British writer AA Milne (Domhnall Gleeson), father of Winnie the Pooh.
Behind every fairy tale there is always a child. Someone who listens raptly to the reassuring voice of his parents who accompanies him to bed… Or someone for whom that fairy tale was written. And not just any fairy tale… Here we talk about great classics, characters like Babar, Spotty, Winnie the Pooh, Geronimo Stiltoninspired by their authors by real children.
Cristina Petit, author of many books for very young people, tells us about it in her new book Written for you – The great story of the children who inspired the most famous characters of all time (Solferino). A journey through time, rich and passionate, which reconstructs the plots of many lives and many eras. We discover the story of Lucy, the little girl adopted by the Barfield family for whom a family friend, a “certain” CS Lewis writes The Chronicles of Narnia; Hugh Lofting’s letters from the front to his children Colin and Elizabeth in which he comes to life Doctor Dolittle and many other unsuspected characters in an essay written “like a walk”, full of love. Because telling for your own child becomes telling for all the children in the world.
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Tags: read childrens literature adults
