Pinocchio plays pranks upon the kindly woodcarver Geppetto, is duped by the Fox and the Cat, kills the pedantic Talking Cricket, and narrowly escapes death, with the help of the blue-haired Fairy. A wooden puppet without strings, Pinocchio is a tragicomic figure, a poor, illiterate, naughty peasant boy who has few choices in life but usually chooses to shirk his responsibilities and get into trouble. This sly and imaginative novel, alternately catastrophic and ridiculous, takes Pinocchio from one predicament to the next, and finally to an optimistic, if uncertain, ending. In his compelling introduction, Jack Zipes places Pinocchio within the traditions of the oral folk tale and the literary fairy tale, showing how Collodi subverts those traditions while raising questions about “how we ‘civilize’ children in uncivilized times.”
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About Pinocchio
The classic tale of literature’s most beloved puppet is retold in this lively, easy-to-read adaptation ideal for young and reluctant readers. Pinocchio, a lonely woodcarver’s puppet, magically comes to life, runs away, and gets into a lot of trouble. The wooden hero tells lies, gets robbed by a sly cat and fox, and is swallowed by a hungry shark before he learns that good deeds, not bad, will help him to fulfill his dream of becoming a real boy.
