Bruno Munari was one of 20th-century Italy’s most eclectic figures. Over the course of his lengthy career as an artist and designer, Munari explored the field of materiality with highly intriguing results. His picturebooks set a precedent in the field of children’s literature, and they are much loved even today. Children are fascinated by the opportunity to organize the experience of reading more freely thanks to ingenious graphical and typographical mechanisms that fully exploit the editorial potential of materials.

Keywords

Bruno Munari, picturebooks, book objects, materiality, visual literacy

Publications

Campagnaro, M. (2023). Architecture and Interior Design in Italian Picturebooks: A case study of Bruno Munari. In T. Schmiedeknecht, J. Rudd & E. Hayward (Eds.), Building Children’s Worlds The Representation of Architecture and Modernity in Picturebooks (pp. 125-142). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003131755-10-

Campagnaro, M. (2020). “Libri per liberare i bambini dalla banalità. Ullallà”. Riflessioni intorno alla collana “Tantibambini” (1972–1978). In T. Pironi (a cura di), Autorità in crisi. Scuola, famiglia, società prima e dopo il ’68 (pp. 227-234). Canterano (RM): Aracne. ISBN: 978-88-2553-255-5

Campagnaro, M. (2020).  Libri per l’infanzia, materialità ed educazione. La lezione di Bruno Munari. In M. T. Triusciuzzi (a cura di), Sentieri tra i Classici. Vecchie e nuove proposte della Letteratura per l’infanzia e per ragazzi (pp. 229-243). Lecce: Pensa Multimedia. ISBN: 978-88-6760-672-6

Campagnaro, M. (2019). Materiality in Bruno Munari’s Book Objects: The Case of Nella notte buia and I Prelibri. Libri & Liberi, 8(2), 359-379. Doi: 10.21066/carcl.libri.8.2.7

Campagnaro, M. (2019). Do touch! How Bruno Munari’s Picturebooks work [Tocca! Come funzionano gli albi di Bruno Munari]. Rivista di storia dell’educazione, 1, 81-97. Doi.org/10.4454/rse.v6i1.194

Campagnaro, M. (2018). Touch and Feel: The Body, Senses, Books and Narration in Childhood. In Nante A., Campagnaro, M. (Eds.), The Body. Ninth International Exhibition of Illustration (pp. 73-92). Padova: Museo Diocesano di Padova/Medigraf Edizioni. ISBN: 978-88-8848-435-8

Campagnaro M. (2018). L’utile e il dilettevole della Letteratura per l’infanzia 0-3 anni. Riflessioni intorno alla literary literacy e alla reader-response theory. [The Uses and Pleasures of Children’s Literature for Ages 0-3 Years. Reflections on Literary Literacy and Reader-Response Theory]. DOSSIER NSRICERCA, Nuova Secondaria, 7(34), 86-104. ISSN: 1828-4582

Campagnaro, M. (2016). The Function of Play in Bruno Munari’s Children’s Books. A Historical Overview. Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica – Journal of Theories and Research in Education, 11(3), 93-105. https://doi.org/10.6092/ISSN.1970-2221/6449

Campagnaro, M. (2017). Eredità del Novecento. Il lascito munariano alla letteratura per l’infanzia. Italica Wratislaviensia, 8(2), 69-85. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/IW.2017.08.18

Other resources