What woul happen if suddenly someone decided to steal all the fairy tale in the world? The silence of nothing would fall on everything and the rainbow would lose its colours. This is what the inhabitants of Solealto are making experience of, when the band of Crooked starts stealing fantasy. To the general indifference, the only rebel is Caterina, the most stubborn little girl of the city. The characters of ancient fairy tales, like old vessels, lead her to places of rich heritage, helping her organize new and different horizons. The child crosses the five continents: she goes across cold weather to the icelands to the heath of Africa. She can relish the joy of friendship e chiefly she learns that mutual giving can save people from nothing and colour life, setting free powers of enchantment and possibility.

The flying fork is a fairy tale structured into six chapters, devoted to readers from six to twelve years old. The tale mirrors the imagery of the European society and, at the same time, reveals connections with the different cultures and social dimensions of the world. It allows us enter for a while in the everyday life of a village and a people. It is a cross cultural tale and it introduces to differences and similarities. The protagonist, infact, is a girl of today, absorbed in today multicultural world and every fairy tale is an occasion of encounter with the personality and the history of a different country. Besides, the story highlights the inner world of the little reader, helping him discover the meaning of living, crossing basic values such as friendship and love, exploring emotions like fear and wish.

Edited by Eli – La Spiga, the story is introduced by Prof. G. De Vecchis’ s preface, professor of Geography at University La Sapienza of Rome (and President of the National Association of Geography Teachers).

The book, actually, other than an enjoyable fairytale, is also a valuable support to prompt the little ones to the study of Geography, and also to introduce multicultural didactic of many subjects. To the text are connected six didactic units to use in the classroom, and an education project successfully run in primary schools. In 2005, the novel obtained a Special Mention of the International Peace Bureau, at the international price “A fairytale for peace“

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