«I Pensierosi» is born, a series created by the writer and illustrator Luca Novelli for Valentina Edizioni. It starts with three “short stories” dedicated to three fundamental values: freedom, happiness, friendship
«Happiness, friendship and freedom. These are themes that together with love should be at the top of everyone’s thoughts, but day after day, we put them in the queue of others. So I decided to dedicate a book to them, or rather three ». This tells Luca Novelli, author and illustrator, famous science popularizer for children, on why he decided to migrate to more philosophical themes with the series «I Pensierosi» (Valentina Edizioni), dedicated to the first readers, children of school age. In this project with his unmistakable, captivating and ironic style, he created the first three illustrated books dedicated to these issues. They are entitled A brief history of happiness, A brief history of friendship e A brief history of Liberty.
To involve the youngest on such profound issues Novelli has a special talent that allows him to tackle topics like a game, but without losing depth. To talk about happiness in a language modulated on children’s sensitivity, he starts immediately with the “smiley” icon, the happy face invented by the American Harvey Ball in the 1960s.
“And the most repeated graphic sign in the world, billions of times every day. Today it is the patrimony of humanity, just as the search for happiness is a patrimony of humanity », she explains enthusiastically.
This trick is used to simplify the concept and immediately capture the attention of the little ones, then in the book the most desired emotion is explained and told also thanks to a character that is found in all three volumes, to make reading more engaging. This is Sofia, a little girl who is defined as millennial, that is, a transversal presence that existed a long time ago, but is still present to explain her stories to her peers today.
Identified with a name that is already a program (the author explains almost casually that it means “wisdom”) is a little chap withallure wild but friendly living in a very special place, the Island of the Big Questions.
“To say important things, I used as few words as possible, choosing them from the simplest. I tried to give the whole sound and rhythm. By showing the images, the text can be read aloud, underlining some words chorally ». The illustrations are made on the computer, fun and colorful, with a great graphic impact.
What is happiness? But above all who invented it? To explain its genesis and meaning, Novelli starts from afar, from evolution and prehistory. At the beginning we were fighting for survival and already being able to break it down produced an automatic dose of euphoria. The idea of well-being was born right then. Then going forward in time, as human conditions improve, men become more and more selfish and domineering and therefore synonymous with happiness often becomes property. To judge this consumerist drift, with authority but also lightnessthe author presents the thought of the great thinkers (all portrayed in a sympathetic and unmistakable way: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Confucius release a comment that helps to reflect and suggests to children to observe nature. Interpret harmony with an ecological spirit. of what surrounds us, which for the little ones means learning to evaluate what can make plants and animals happy.
The other two librettos also follow the same narrative scheme that mixes anecdotes and important concepts. Speaking of friendship, “a feeling that can be worth all the gold in the world”, we start from the universal to arrive at the particular. And thanks to a good dose of irony it turns out that, among animals, the whale has the greatest number of friends. Because in the animal world, friendships are based on mutual usefulness and the immense mammal is so popular because, without even realizing it, it procures various favors. “There are those who ask for a ride, those who live on her shoulders, those who have breakfast in her mouth.”
To explain how precious freedom is, Novelli uses the illustration of the famous statue that stands at the entrance to New York and holds a torch in his hand and also the table of laws. In fact, to preserve it rules are needed that everyone must observe: «Freedom is happy when it is among friends who do everything possible so that others are free too».
The creator: drawings, words and science to speak to the youngest
Luca Novelli was born in Milan in 1947: he is a journalist, author, illustrator and science writer for children. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He collaborates with Rai, WWF, several museums and universities. For Valentina Edizioni he created the “I Genietti” series dedicated to explaining scientific phenomena to the youngest (two titles in the series won the Gianni Rodari Special Prize at the Rodari Festival in Omegna, in 2017) and the “I Pensierosi” series dedicated to philosophy, of which the first three illustrated books have come out: A brief history of happiness, A brief history of friendship e A brief history of Liberty.
April 12, 2022 (change April 12, 2022 | 15:01)
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