These projects explore the history of Italian children’s literature by investigating the life and works of some prominent Italian authors, such as Gianni Rodari, Italo Calvino and Bruno Munari, along with the historical development of crucial themes for children’s literature, like the representation of the Great War.

Keywords

History of Italian children’s literature, History of Children’s literature, History of Children’s Books, Italian Writers, Great War, Italo Calvino, Bruno Munari, Gianni Rodari

Classic Children’s Books By The Decades: 1960s & 1970s

This research investigates relevant publishing and educational transformations that arose in children’s literature between 1960 and 1980. By exploring these changes, new ideas about educational needs and children’s agency emerge. In particular, the relevance of reading aloud and sharing stories, the impact of emergent literacy to fight poverty and social exclusion, the importance of offering children different typologies of books (different content and different graphic and typographic forms) with innovative uses of materiality, including tactile and multisensorial approaches, are considered fundamental for supporting the child’s development of global literacy skills (linguistic, visual, cognitive and emotional) regardless of their young age.

Portraits of Male and Female Headmasters

Individual and Collective Representations in Children’s Literature

School stories are intertwined with the history of children’s literature. In the 18th century, school stories mainly focused on male characters and their relationships with peers and teachers. Stories about girls at school were rare.

The aim of this project is to outline the representational characteristics—in terms of literary content and iconographic depictions—of male and female headmasters and principals in children’s literature by analysing and comparing Italian and European children’s works published from the 19th century to the present day.

This study is part of the investigation of the Research Group on History of Education lead by professor Giuseppe Zago (University of Padova Subunit), inside the project PRIN 2017 School Memories between Social Perception and Collective Representation (Italy, 1861-2001)

Publications

Galletti, A. (2022). Tracce di materia e di luce nella letteratura per l’infanzia. La preziosità dell’Oro tra il qui e l’Altrove. ETS.

Campagnaro, M. (2021). Infanzia, adolescenza e resilienza. Zigzagando fra i generi letterari e sfide educative [Childhood, Adolescence and Resilience: Wandering through Literary Genres and Educational Challenges]. Gli Argonauti. Rivista di Studi storico-educativi e Pedagogici, 1(1), 44-54. https://doi.org/10.13129/2785-0919/argo.3189

Campagnaro, M. (2020). Sul “pensare per coppie”. Origine e valore della “fantastica casalinga” di Rodari. In L. Todaro (Ed.), Gianni Rodari. Incontri e riflessioni a cento anni dalla nascita (pp. 95-106). Roma: Anicia. ISBN: 978-88-6709-531-5

Campagnaro, M. (2020). “Pro e contro la fiaba” Fifty Years Later: Is Gianni Rodari’s Apologia Still Relevant Today?. Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, 34 (1), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.13110/marvel tales.34.1.0109

Campagnaro, M. & Filograsso, I. (2018). Children, Soldiers and Heroes. The Great War in Past and Present Italian Children’s Literature. Libri & Liberi, 7(2), 223-246. https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.7.2.3

Campagnaro, M. (2017). Il cacciatore di pieghe. Figure e tendenze della letteratura per l’infanzia contemporanea, Lecce: Pensa MultiMedia. ISBN: 978-88-6760-513-2.

Campagnaro, M. (2017). A immagine e somiglianza di bambino. Le trasformazioni della letteratura per l’infanzia e della pedagogia della lettura negli anni Sessanta e Settanta. In G. Zago (Ed.), L’educazione extrascolastica nella seconda metà del Novecento. Tra espansione e rinnovamento (1945-1975) (pp. 169-190). Milano: FrancoAngeli. ISBN: 978-88-917-5385-4

Zago, G. (Ed.) (2017), L’educazione extrascolastica nella seconda metà del Novecento. Tra espansione e rinnovamento (1945-1975). Milano: FrancoAngeli. ISBN: 978-88-9175-385-4

Zago, G. (2017). Il contributo di Anna Maria Bernardinis (1932-2017) alla pedagogia della letteratura per l’infanzia. History of Education & Children’s Literature, 2, 629-638. ISSN: 1971-1131

Zago, G. (2017). Anna Maria Bernardinis. Rassegna di Pedagogia, 3-4, 115-117. ISSN: 033-9571.

Campagnaro, M. (2016). Pinocchio. Marvels & Tales. Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, 30(1), 142-144. ISSN: 1521-4281.

Campagnaro, M (a cura di) (2015). La Grande guerra raccontata ai ragazzi. Roma: Donzelli. ISBN: 978-88-6843-190-7

Campagnaro, M. (Ed.) (2014). Le terre della fantasia. Leggere la letteratura per l’infanzia e l’adolescenza. Roma: Donzelli. ISBN: 978-88-6843-059-7

Campagnaro, M. (2013). A Classic Work of Italian Literature: Italo Calvino’s Trilogy for Young Readers. Libri & Liberi, 2(1), 83-95. https://hrcak.srce.hr/112651

Campagnaro, M. (2012). Storie di donne scritte da donne. La proposta iconica di Chiara Carrer. In S. Chemotti (Ed.) Le graphie della cicogna. La scrittura delle donne come ri-velazione (pp. 393-414). Padova: Il Poligrafo. ISBN: 978-88-7115-775-7

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