5 Italian Children’s Book Authors You Should Know

Writer and illustrator Nicoletta Costa has produced more than 350 children’s books, most of which she has both written and illustrated. She’s well known for the book character Olga, a cloud. Olga the Cloud has even been translated into English and follows the story of a cloud who wants to release a little rain, but a chicken, Mrs. Emilia, doesn’t want her chicks to get rained on. Costa also created the famous Giulio Coniglio, a rabbit named Giulio. The book is also a cartoon series as well as featuring the rabbit in numerous settings like winter, at night, and swimming in the ocean. Some of the books have been translated into English but these editions are primarily available as digital books, like Julio Bunny and the Pirate Ship.

Teacher and journalist Giovanni “Gianni'' Rodari is often considered the father of modern Italian children’s literature. He began writing children’s books after the war and since then he’s received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Children’s Literature. He has written some thirty books, but none were published in the United States in his lifetime, and while several of the books were previously available in the United States but are now rare and hard to find. In Telling Stories Wrong, begins with a grandfather who incorrectly tells the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and the Marxist-leaning book, the Adventures of Cipollino (meaning the little onion), leads a revolution of garden vegetables.

A respected children’s and young adult book author in Italy, Pitzorno made her mark on Italian culture as head of children’s programming at RAI, Radiotelevisione Italiana, the national public broadcasting company. Her stories usually focus on female characters with complex personalities, social and political issues, and a little humor as a treat. Several of her books have been translated into English with The Seamstress of Sardinia, an adult-focused novel being the most popular. However, her children’s books include La bambola dell'alchimista, about a young girl who wants a sister, and Clorofilla dal cielo blu, about an alien plant in a polluted city.

A well-known Italian writer, Eco made his mark in academic scholarship, cultural criticism, political commentary, and novel writing. Eco is a favorite of current cultural critics too with numerous titles in the New York Review of Books Classics series.  But the famed author known for semiotic discourse also wrote children’s books. In The Three Astronauts, Eco tells the story of a Martian encountering three space explorers from the United States, Russia, and China. Similarly, The Bomb and the General tells the story of a bad general looking to launch an atomic war. Steeped in political commentary, these children’s books are just as relevant today as when they were written in the 1980s.

Dami began her literary career at the age of 13 as a proof reader for her family’s publishing business, Dami Editore. She began writing children’s books after volunteering at a children’s hospital. Inspired by Patch Adams, she began telling the children stories, and then eventually invented the character of Geronimo Stilton. Geronimo is a mouse living on a version of earth fille with anthropomorphic mice and rats. He lives in New Mouse City. There is a 30-book collection available in English, and more than 180 million books have been sold.