- a puppet boy constantly misbehaves, reaping the consequences, but eventually learns his lesson
- brilliant writing style weaves humor, macabre* events and wise proverbs together
- convo points: wine mentioned, general naughtiness 🙂
- language: x2 G*d forbid, x2 Heavens, x2 ass (donkey)
Type: chapter book
Ages: 8+
Author: Carlo Collodi
*Pinocchio escapes near-death many times–he is hung from a tree, almost used for firewood, is swallowed by a monstrous shark, etc. He also sees the ghost of a dead girl (his “fairy”) and spooks are mentioned once.
This really is an impressive piece of literature. It is memorable and infused with all sorts of deeper thoughts. Your kids might not catch them all, which is one of the reasons I suggest reading together and discussing. There are various [brief] lessons such as “Children who do not follow the advice of those who are wiser than they are always come to grief.”
If you are a Christian parent, you might want to expand on a message in Chapter 36–Collodi argues that the reason we should be kind to everyone is so they’re kind to us when we need it. This is obviously a possible result of kindness; however, we are kind because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and that is one of His fruits (Galatians 5:22). See also Colossians 3:12, Ephesians 4:32, Luke 6:35, 1 Peter 3:9, 1 Corinthians 13:4, and more.
Since this was first published in 1882, there is a handful of unique vocabulary words you don’t run into very often nowadays. Many of them are in a glossary in the back. A lover of words might appreciate this aspect.
Besides having the glossary, our copy has more information about the author, a detailed list of the characters, other interesting facts and lots of great black & white illustrations.
When you feel your children are old enough, I definitely recommend this one!