At the end of their TV show, King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, and his wife, Dale Evans, would sing “Happy Trails to You” wishing their viewers a pleasant journey. It’s a song that reminds me of a few road trips that, as a child, I took with my cousins on the way to see our grandparents. We were an animated bunch and thus easily bored. After 20 minutes into the trip, we would start asking “how much longer until we get there?” It was at this point that my aunt initiated her Road Trip Activities for Kids routine. It’s here that I learned to sing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”. As long as we were singing, we weren’t asking questions.
Kids love to ask their parents questions that parents sometimes find difficult to answer. You know, stuff like “where do babies come from?”
Gianni Rodari (1920-1980) was an Italian writer known mainly for his children’s books. His dad died when he was a young boy and his mom was left to raise him on her own. That may explain why Rodari studied in a seminary while an adolescent. At 17 he became an elementary school teacher. This experience with children helped form him as a pedagogical writer.
During Mussolini’s reign, Rodari was forced to join the Young Fascist Party in order to work. But, in 1944, Rodari joined the Communist Party as well as la Resistenza (the Resistance). Once the war was over, he began writing for the communist newpaper, L’Unita.
In 1950, Rodari published his first children’s book “Il libro delle filastrocche” (The Book of Children’s Poems) and continued writing until his death. The last book published was “The Book of Whys” (Il libro dei perche).
For moms with curious kids, “The Book of Whys” offers a helping hand in answering typical kid questions. You know, questions like “Why doesn’t the moon fall from the sky?” and “Why do roosters crow?” and “Why do rainbows come out after the rain?”
Rodari answers the questions with a simple explanation embellished by related rhymes. For example, “why does hair grow? (perché crescono I capelli?). Rodari explains that “Hair is planted in the skin, like plants in the earth, and has roots (the blood vessels of the bulb) through which it nourishes itself.” But this is followed by a quirky little poem about growing flowers on our head instead of hair. That way, you can tell what kind of person someone is by the kinds of flowers growing on their head.
When small children begin making connections, they start asking “why?” all the time simply because they’re trying to understand something. One study I read said that children from 2-5 years of age ask over 100 questions in an hour. That’s a lot of answers for a young momma to come up with. Maybe a creative elementary school teacher out there will come up with a more contemporary and practical version of “The Book of Whys”. Elementary school teachers would better know the typical questions children ask and how to answer them.
Any volunteers?
Gianni Rodari is buried at the Verano Monumental Cemetery in Rome.
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Related: Janis Joplin sings “Happy Trials” to John Lennon + The Italian Genius Who Mixed Marxism and Children’s Literature, Gianni Rodari, who has been almost unknown in English till now, united a fantastical imagination with a deep interest in education +
Gianni Rodari, 100 years young + The Grammar of Fantasy and the Fantastic Binomial: Beloved Italian Children’s Book Author Gianni Rodari on Creativity and the Key to Great Storytelling +
The Narrative Within 