The story of the wooden puppet whose nose grows every time he tells a lie has captured hearts around the world. Readers of all ages will be enchanted by this new edition of the timeless tale of a mischievous marionette's struggles to behave himself in a world of temptation and adventure. Unlike his famous movie namesake, this Pinocchio is selfish and sometimes cruel - just like some real little boys. As soon as he can walk, he runs away, escaping into a series of darkly humorous episodes that range from getting conned by a pair of tricksters to being turned into a donkey and getting swallowed by an enormous fish. Populated by a host of memorable characters and briskly propelled by the captivating logic of a dream, this remarkable fantasy from the nineteenth century remains as fresh and inventive as if it had been written yesterday. AGES: 7 to 11 AUTHOR: Carlo Collodi (1826 1890) was the pen name of Carlo Lorenzini. The Florence native took the name of his mother's native village, where he attended school. Collodi served in the Tuscan army during the Italian wars of independence and founded a satirical weekly, Il Lampione. The author of novels, plays, and political sketches, he translated Charles Perrault's fairy tales from the French, and in 1881 his Storia di un burratino (Story of a Puppet) was published in installments in the Giornale per i bambini, appearing two years later in book form as The Adventures of Pinocchio.