Pinocchio: The Story that Found Us
From the Year of the Seeker Summer Magazine
Some Thoughts from our Team:
“I have heard it said, You don’t find a book. A book finds you.”
Several years ago, while visiting friends in Italy, I asked if I could use their computer. In the family’s book-lined back office, one particular book caught my eye: Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, with notes by Franco Nembrini.
Aware of Nembrini’s work on Dante and always more interested in books than checking emails, I was unable to contain my curiosity and pulled Pinocchio off the shelf. Within moments, I was lost in wonder. Surprisingly, the commentary was not for children; it was for me. Somehow, this tale of a wooden puppet illuminated the journey of my life.
My friends gave me the book as a gift. I devoured the story—and Nembrini’s accompanying wisdom—on my ten-hour plane ride home to Minnesota. Since then, this story about the adventures of a puppet has continued to be my companion.
While Italians know this beloved novel well, most Americans are only vaguely familiar with children’s versions of the tale and have never read the original classic. I hope you discover—as was the case for me—that you didn’t just find the book.
The book found you.
– Marcie Stokman, founder of Well-Read Mom
The Well-Read Mom edition of Pinocchio With Reflections on a Father’s Love is a rare gem because we are presenting Carlo Collodi’s original tale alongside extensive reflections made available in English for the first time by Franco Nembrini. Nembrini is an expert in Italian literature, and his reflections break open this story with fresh insights through his diligent, prayerful attention to the text. Nembrini focuses these particular reflections on Geppetto’s love for Pinocchio and, in doing so, unveils tremendous depth to this story. When we discovered these reflections in Italian, we knew it would be a perfect choice for the Year of the Father. We decided to take a risk in publishing it, but our women are worth it!
Nembrini’s reflections are essential to what Well-Read Mom desires to highlight about fatherhood, freedom, identity, and love in Pinocchio. Having these reflections to draw upon will add to our understanding of the text, deepen our discussion, and provide a true education for our hearts.
In this edition of Pinocchio, Nembrini guides us through the profoundly Catholic culture in which this story was written and from whence it derives its ultimate meaning—untwisting ourselves from the allure of freedom without responsibility, and friendship without sacrifice, into a mature humanity aided by grace and confident in the Father’s love for us. By the novel’s end, we will see Pinocchio’s journey as the journey of us all.
–Colleen Hutt, Well-Read Mom Director Literature Evangelization
An Interview with Franco Nembrini:
Q, Why are you excited to bring Pinocchio to an American audience?
America is a young country. This is a source of its great energy, its dynamism, but it is also a form of need – a need for roots from which to draw strength as it matures. Roots to weather the crises that are an inevitable part of human experience. Italian culture has an ancient history. In this complementary contrast, the two places have much to say to one another. How shall they say it?
Great, universal geniuses like Collodi, author of Pinocchio, the poet Giacomo Loepardi, and the great Dante Alighieri are voices that we can encounter in their transformative works of literature. These authors spoke to me at critical passages in my life, in a dialogue that began when I was around twelve years old and continues to this day. My commentaries aim to let these voices “speak” to America—to break down any barriers of culture and time that may stand between them and us today, to bring readers intimately face to face with the authors.
In my brief time in America, I met passionate people who were deeply invested in learning and educating, unafraid of handling important questions. Collodi’s ingenious, subtle work answers this need for a personal journey. Pinocchio reminds us that growth is not about grades and skills, accolades and rules—growth is a universal, transcendent story called vocation. Pinocchio is the tale of a being who, as he grows, learns that he has a soul, with a personal calling. The educational journey is, first and foremost, the flourishing of a unique soul called into relationship with God.
Q. How has this work impacted your life?
I was only about twenty when I started teaching, and the Bishop of Bergamo placed me as a religion teacher in the public school system. I had no idea what to do. How could I make religion interesting for fifteen-year-olds who had already been won over by an anti-religious, violent, false culture? As I grasped about for resources, I stumbled upon Cardinal Giacomo Biffi’s theological commentary on The Adventures of Pinocchio. I made an extraordinary discovery.
The most famous tale in the world, written by an atheist who hoped his writing would distance children from religion, instead helped people young and old, fathers and sons, teachers and students, to walk the streets of the world with courage and faithfulness. A seemingly innocuous fable, full of fantastical imagery, was really a vast parable about humanity, and, therefore, about each one of us.
Indeed, after Pinocchio runs away from his father’s house, he goes through all the temptations, mistakes, and betrayals that characterize all our lives. But, thanks to the faithfulness of the father who wanted him, he finds himself in the end and is saved.
This narrative made Pinocchio one of the texts that has shaped my life: an inexhaustible font of suggestions and teachings that has helped me to identify better which path to take. And this is what I did for many years, together with the teens entrusted to me at school. Using the stupendous parables that appear throughout the story, I tried to show them the conditions for living a good life in peace and joy. Even when the price to pay is our own instinct or selfishness.
Being able to return to the house of the Father—or better, as happens in the grand final chapter of the book, and becoming fathers of our own fathers—is a source of joy so great that it is worth any suffering and effort it takes to get there.
About Franco Nembrini
Franco Nembrini was born in Trescore Balneario, Italy, in 1955. He left school at age sixteen to work in a factory and later took a high school equivalency exam to receive his diploma. Franco enrolled in the BA in education program at the Catholic University of Milan and taught theology in high school. He married and has four sons. Franco helped found “La Traccia,” a private middle school.
About Well-Read Mom
In Well-Read Mom, women read more and read well. Our hope is to deepen the awareness of meaning hidden in each woman’s daily life. We long to elevate the cultural conversation and revitalize reading literature from books. If you would like us to help you select worthy reading material, we invite you to join and read along. We are better together! For information on how to start or join a Well-Read Mom group visit our website wellreadmom.com
