Readings Classics: Pinocchio

Description

The story of the walking and talking puppet Pinocchio is one of the best-loved children’s tales of all time.

One of the most widely read books of all time, Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio is a riotous, tragicomic tale that will charm young and old with its endearing blend of mischief and magic.

Geppetto, a poor woodcarver, crafts a marionette from a strange piece of talking wood and inadvertently brings the mischievous Pinocchio – a walking, talking, wooden boy – into the world. The naughty, selfish puppet heads off into the world and encounters all manner of unusual and dangerous characters on his adventures, undergoing a series of fiendishly imaginative trials – among them being swallowed by a giant dogfish and turned into a donkey – that will lead him to self-knowledge. Along the way he will be helped by a beautiful fairy, a talking cricket and his loving father as he learns how to become what he most longs to be – a real boy.

Author Biography

Carlo Lorenzini, popularly known by his pen name Carlo Collodi, was an Italian writer, children s author and journalist. He was born in Florence on November 24, 1826. He is best known as the creator of Pinocchio, living puppet whose adventures are famous among children around the world. His other notable works include Giannettino, and Minuzzolo. His magnum opus Pinocchio was adapted by Disney in a motion picture in 1940 and became one of Disney’s greatest animation. Collodi died in his home town on October 26, 1890 at the age of 63.