Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto bookcover

Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto

Gianni Rodari 

(Author)

Roman Muradov 

(Illustrator)

Antony Shugaar 

(Translator)
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Description

From Gianni Rodari, the father of modern Italian children's literature, comes a pithy, humorous tale about life and death, health and wealth . . . and bandits and balloons! A refreshed translation from Batchelder Award-winner Antony Shugaar, illustrated with all-new art from Roman Muradov

"Gianni Rodari gave free rein to his imagination, with inspired panache and gleeful lightness. At the same time, he had a precise and meticulous love for detail, for rich and exact language, and so all of his inventions are set in a very concrete world with real form and action." --Italo Calvino

Baron Lamberto is very old, very rich, and very sick. He lives in a villa on a private island in the middle of Lake Orta, tended to by his trusty butler, Anselmo, who keeps track of the baron's 24 maladies, 24 banks, and endless eccentricities.

After a mysterious trip to Egypt, the baron hires six people to take up residence in the attic of his villa. Their only task? To repeat his name, "Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto," throughout the day. Why? It's anyone's guess, but--wonder of wonders--Baron Lamberto does appear to be getting better and better, little by little, day by day.

But trouble looms when Lamberto's nefarious nephew Ottavio enters the scene, scheming up a way to get his hands on the baron's fortune. And things go from bad to worse when a band of 24 bandits (all named Lamberto, too, by the way) lays siege to the baron's villa and attempt to hold him for ransom.

In typical Rodarian fashion, Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto is a thoroughly enjoyable, deeply thought-provoking read. While it playfully skewers the absurdities of the rich, the bureaucracy, the media, and more, it also encourages readers to liberate their imaginations, to expect the unexpected, and to embrace the kind of possibilities that normally only happen in fairy tales.

Product Details

PublisherEnchanted Lion
Publish DateMarch 18, 2025
Pages136
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9781592704156
Dimensions9.9 X 6.8 X 0.9 inches | 1.2 pounds
BISAC Categories: Kids, Kids, Kids

About the Author

The Italian Author Gianni Rodari 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 The Grammar of Fantasy, 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.

Reviews

"A modern fairytale... Muradov's elegant, witty illustrations reinforce the playful tone."--Mac Barnett, The New York Times
"Both fanciful and grounded in reality... No doubt it'll be enjoyed by kids and adults alike."--Betsy Bird, A Fuse #8 Production (A School Library Journal blog)
"Gianni Rodari gave free rein to his imagination, with inspired panache and gleeful lightness. At the same time, he had a precise and meticulous love for detail, for rich and exact language, and so all of his inventions are set in a very concrete world with real form and action."--Italo Calvino
"In Gianni Rodari's madcap allegorical fairy tale, an Italian nonagenarian's [life] takes zany, hairpin turns... Cartoon illustrations complement the text, sending up the villa's eccentric residents with skill. And the ebullient prose savors fun, sometimes specialized diction coupled with situational humor."--Foreword Reviews
"The latest of Enchanted Lion Books' stunning new editions of the works of much-loved Italian children's author Gianni Rodari, this is the surreal and frequently uproarious tale of two overlapping heists that both go horribly and hilariously wrong... Deft two-tone illustrations combine the abstract and the peculiar in this madcap adventure full of wit and humor, with sharp dialogue in Shugaar's translation."--Words Without Borders
"The storytelling's illogical logic transcends age. Translator Shugaar perfectly taps into the fiasco's flavor, deftly displaying Rodari's propensity for silliness, though his introduction makes it clear that there are political messages embedded throughout... Muradov's illustrations pay homage to Bruno Munari's abstract artwork, featured in the book's 1980 edition, while giving the tale a gentle tone entirely of its own... Supremely sophisticated bedtime fare [that] revels in its own peculiar humor."--Kirkus Reviews

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