PINOKIO
Carlo Collodi
Sara Fanelli
~~~
Candlewick, 2003.
ISBN: 0763622613

translation into English: Vesna Jevtić

In thoroughly rounded units one can never guess what came first. I suppose that in this instance the lightweight illustrations in deep dark blue ink are to be held responsible for the fact that the text throughout the book is of the same colour. Then – the illustrations in the text and the headings as well as the ornamental borders – those never repeat and it is clear every page of the book has been carefully planned, unpretentiously and with love. Everything is blue on white, while every so often full colour flashes, over a page or two an unfolded illustration flares like a scene from an amazing old children's film! Sara Fanelli takes delight in what she does and she excels in it! She has laid bare in front of us a great deal of the huge personal collection of her flea market jewels, with a perfect sense of delicacy in decoration and composition, she cuts, scans, glues, colours, scribbles, doodles and jots on millimetre graph or squared paper. All the time there is a taste in the air of the indelible pencil and of thick stale paper bags from the damp storage room of a countryside grocery shop.

And before you discover it all between hard covers, while you're pulling the book out of the soft box, Pinocchi0's nose on the front cover will grow!