{"product_id":"the-book-of-whys-hardcover","title":"The Book of Whys - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGianni Rodari\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJoohee Yoon\u003c\/b\u003e (Illustrator), \u003cb\u003eAntony Shugaar\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFactual as well as whimsical, and humorously illustrated, this is the first English-language publication of the answers given by one of Italy's greatest and most beloved children's authors to children's questions about animals, nature, technology, and culture.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2023 Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs's English Translation Prize! Selected for the 2025 White Ravens catalog of notable international children's literature!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGianni Rodari is widely regarded as the father of modern Italian children's literature. A firm believer in the great intelligence of children, he worked both as a teacher and a journalist. For a number of years, children across Italy sent their questions to his weekly newspaper column--questions Rodari answered, most inventively, with rhymes and little poems. \u003ci\u003eWhy didn't he reply with facts alone?\u003c\/i\u003e Because he wanted to provoke children into thinking about questions, norms, and language itself. \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Whys \u003c\/i\u003ecollects a selection of these questions--from \"Why does an elephant have a trunk?\" to \"Why does a car need fuel?\" to \"Why are we born?\"--along with Rodari's answers, which beautifully serve to highlight the complexities, simplicities, and absurdities of our world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith a fresh translation from Antony Shugaar, who also translated Rodari's \u003ci\u003eTelephone Tales \u003c\/i\u003e(the 2021 Batchelder Award winner), and playful illustrations in colored pencils from artist JooHee Yoon (\u003ci\u003eBeastly Verse; The Tiger Who Would Be King\u003c\/i\u003e, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBest Illustrated Book of 2015; \u003ci\u003eInside Out and Upside Down\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Whys \u003c\/i\u003eis a playful, surprising, and poetically informative book for all those who are curious about the world and ready to play with the ways things are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eItalian author \u003cb\u003eGianni Rodari\u003c\/b\u003e wrote many beloved children's books and was awarded the prestigious Andersen Prize. But he was also an educator of paramount importance in Italy and an activist who understood the liberating power of the imagination. He is one of the twentieth century's greatest authors for children, and Italy's greatest. Influenced by French surrealism and linguistics, Rodari stressed the importance of poetic language, metaphor, made-up language, and play. At a time when schooling was all about factual knowledge, Rodari wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Grammar of Fantasy\u003c\/i\u003e, a radically imaginative book about storytelling and play. He was a forerunner of writing techniques such as the \"fantastic binomial\" and the utopian, world engendering \"what if....\" The relevance of Rodari's works today lies in his poetics of imagination, his humanist yet challenging approach to reality, and his themes, such as war and peace, immigration, injustice, inequality, and liberty. Forty years after his death, Rodari's writing is as powerful and innovative as ever. He died in Rome in 1980.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJooHee Yoon\u003c\/b\u003e is an artist and educator whose practice spans illustration, design, and printmaking. Much of her work is influenced by her time experimenting with traditional printmaking techniques. Her drawings can often be seen in publications such as the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and she has exhibited widely both in the United States and abroad. In 2015 her first picture book, a contemporary take on the James Thurber classic \u003ci\u003eThe Tiger Who Would Be \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eKing\u003c\/i\u003e, was named one of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books. Currently she teaches in the illustration department at RISD, along with working on publishing projects.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAntony Shugaar\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer and translator, working out of Italian and French. He once interviewed the creator of Topo Gigio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 152\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 x 9.6 x 6.3 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 23, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48457402548473,"sku":"9781592703647","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/v2OL5TlLb9781592703647.webp?v=1780081794","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/the-book-of-whys-hardcover","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}