The parent’s corner

La parabola del panificio indipendente

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One of our favorite contemporary illustrators is Neil Packer. “One of a kind”, his book about all kind of sorting one can imagine, won the Bologna Ragazzi Award and Premio Andersen and Cento Prize in 2021.

Now, in April 2024, the italian publisher Camelozampa printed his last masterpiece, La parabola del panifio indipendente. The book was “Printed on water” at Grafiche Veneziane, the last active independent printing house in Venice. And the book is indeed a true downward parable, symbolizing how conformity can flatten and consume everything: taste, originality, creativity, care and passion.

The story is centered around an elderly couple from a small town that runs a bakery that produces the most delicious bread. Their passion and love for creating good bread are evident in every loaf they bake. As the years goes by, their strength and energy eventually runs out. Seizing this opportunity, the owner of the Grande Fabbrica (the Big Factory) acquires their independent bakery. The result? The once-flavorful bread becomes bland, soft, and devoid of love. The townspeople reluctantly accept this tasteless bread, forgetting the goodness that came from the independent bakery. They are not happy, but what can they do?

Then, other bakers start reopening new independent bakeries. And so, the town is filled again with the smell of fresh out of the oven, tasteful and baked with love bread.

The Gods

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For the last month or so, our daughter has a passion for Greek mythology. She has some grafic novels, some in Romanian and some in English and a few Encyclopedias that she is currently reading. She is reading all of them, repeatedly, I think she already knows full passages of them by heart.

Last evening, before going to bed, her father also wanted to look on a Larousse book about the 10 greatest gods and goddesses of the Ancient Greek mythology. And he started citing something that he found interesting in the book. Then, all the zen from our home disappeared in a second:

– No, dada, no! Afrodita is not Venus, she was the Goddess of love and the daughter of Zeus! Her husband was the God of fire!

– Yes, but in the Roman mythology her name was Venus. The Romans also believed in Gods!

– I don’t know that, dada! I know that they came and conquered my ancestors, that’s what I know about Romans!!

– Yes, baby girl, they did! But still, Afrodita was the Goddess of Love in Greece and in ancient Roman Empire the Goddess of Love was Venus.

Silence. She needs to rethink her position 🙂

– Hefaistos married Afrodita, not Venus! He was the God of Fire!

– Yes, and Venus married Vulcan!

– I don’t know Vulcan! I only red Odyssey and Iliad! They don’t have Roman Gods in there! I’m a small child dada, I will read about Romans later! Now I read about Greek Gods, Acheans and Trojans. It is enough for a little girl like me!

I didn’t interrupt their talk. After all what I could possibly have said? Maybe that for a little girl like her it is a very big deal to be able to read about Iliad and Odyssey and all the Greek Gods? Or maybe that she could read Disney books about princesses and not graphic novels about wars? No, that would be a silly thought. She doesn’t like girlish books …

If you can choose, choose to be kind

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At some point in his life, Dr. Wayne D. Dweyer said: “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.”

Somehow this become one of my favorites motto also. If you can, do good, be kind. If not, not be mean or rude just because you can.

Teach the youngsters to do the same, teach your own kids that. To share the same values as you, to pass along the kindness. Because unaddressed, the disrespect builds more disrespect; the hate builds more hate. And our world and our kids world doesn’t need this.

In my opinion, there are three types of people in our society: the makers, talented individuals that create beautiful things ; the ones that support and promote their work; and the ones that wait in a corner, ready to attack or to find the tinniest mistakes someone made. A typo, a small error… From an entire ocean of good or beautiful wonders.

It is up to us and us alone where we want to be. What we want to build or to tear down. What we want our children to see and learn, by validation.

On my part, I try to create as much as I can beautiful things and pass them along. To support the beautiful creators of our times in their struggle. To let something of real value and substance to the future generations.

The good old summer

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This summer has officialy ended a few days ago. But I run on another calendar, I want to prolong it a little bit.

Today it was the last day of the summer holiday. It seemed like any other day, I guess that only the emotions of the adults or older kids would add something special to it.

This was a beautiful summer. A time to rest and warm our hearts, to plan new adventures and to reflect on the last ones. For me it wasn’t just a walk in the park, even if I took a lot of those. But I think that when you hit the rough is because you can always find your way to the calmer waters. That the sweat and the tears are also a reminder of who we are and what we need sometimes to do to get back to us.

For my daughter it was a holiday to remember. She played and laughed and slept a lot. She grew a little and now she is another her, a bit more independent from us and a bit more resilient from the rules. Things not necessary bad for her, things that maybe we encourage her to be. In order to see the world through your own eyes, you have to know what is the thing you see.

For us as a family is was time together and time apart, as in any other season. It was joy and exploration and boredom sometimes, if someone can still get bored in 2023 🙂

Tomorrow we go back to duty. My daughter to school, she’ll start second grade; her father to his work and me to mine. Mother, wife and when time allowes it, creator. And all the other jobs that I have, even if they are somehow not so visible. But I feel all of them and they make me who I am.

I wish all of us a good autumn, with sunny days and not so windy ones. And if we get in the way of a windy one, we must remember that we have to stay strong and wait for it to end. The bad times always ends and we get back to us.

Happy birthday, Mr. President!

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Ya, I know … it is more than presumptious of me to think that the former President of the United States of America would read this, but still… it is the celebration of his birthday and I wanted to write something special for the occasion.

Beyond any politics or public service, studies or profesional background, we are all humans. What it is left after we no longer held a position are the memories and the relationships we crafted with others. Our legacy, what we believed and fought for. Our spirit and our teachings, our warm or kind nature, if we had one.

I like Michelle and Barrack Obama very much. Their work, their spirit and the way they managed to bring a change in the most difficult place to be change in the whole wide world, US. A change for the most vulnerable, the ones not having all the advantages in their favour. The former President himself was a change, the first African American on the service. The first to address issues from the Pandora box that no one wanted or had the courrage to address before. To march on untraveled and dangerous paths. To stand for justice and equality for all people, regarding of their age, race or background. He managed to be the most powerful man on Earth and yet to remain a loving father and husband. His stories regarding family time in the White House are funny and warm, natural and simple, as the ones of any other family. In life sometime we all could use a break from taking things or ourselves too serious and trying to have a good laugh.

I hope that many other leaders have found a model in him and all the work he has done and continues to do. If we surround ourselves with people better than us, more talented or hardworking, with good moral values, chances are to brings others along with us that have the same qualities. And than the effect of our actions will be much bigger and we will feel that we are rewarded with things greater than material posesion. We would be able to tell that we’ve done our job and we made a difference. Because at the end of the day we all want to be valued and to feel that we’ve make someone life’s better.

I will end with my favourite saying of him: no matter what happen, the sun will still rise tomorrow.

Things to look forward to

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by Sophie Blackall

The renewed australian author has done it again 🙂 Her book “Things to look forward to” is a win by itself for anyone who reads it. Started as a pandemic silver lining, the book is a collection of 52 ( the artist’s age in the year the book appeared) things that may help us to keep going. We always relate to the future accordingly with our past, with what we know and we have felt until now. So it is the emotion of the future experiences that we long to feel, more that the experience itself. For someone it can be seeing an old friend or a loved one; or going to the beach; eating a favourite dish. Going in a new place or starting a new job. The things that we wish to come in our lives are as different as we are. But they all give us the same feelings: anticipation, happiness, excitement, joy, emotions. So in the end they kind of bring us together in a yet not known future.

This is the first book for grown-ups that the awarded author has written. And I loved it, I red it all in the same evening, the day it arrived. If you feel like you need an extra thing to look forward to, then maybe you’ll read it too. Or if you are curious just how good writing looks like, this is a wonderful exemple.

Enjoy!

Iban Barrenetxea, the spanish illustrator

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It was a romanian old saying about a guy who lived in a rural area and when he arrives in a big city he goes to the zoo and there he sees a giraffe. Dumbfounded, he had never seen a giraffe before, he murmurs: “something like this doesn’t exist”. I’ve seen lots of things in my life and lost of illustration and this is a fact. But when I saw Iban Barrenetxea illustrations for the first time I had the same reaction as the peasant in my story: it is surreal, something like that is beyond my imagination! The details and the symbols are just sublime!

The spanish illustrator, born in 1973 in the Basque region of Spain it is already an establish author and illustrator. Because my 8 years old daughter is learning spanish, I just bought her two of the book he illustrated: Grimm Brothers’ Snow White and Un mundo mejor, derecho des ninos ( 10 children rights illustrated). I let the images to speak for themselves and Iban Barrenetxea’s talent.

Nana

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Nana este iubire universala. Cine nu a avut o Nana in viata lui, sa ii faca toate poftele, sa oblojeasca julituri si sa ii zambeasca mereu? Oricat de impovarat i-ar fi fost sufletul sau de grele miscarile, ea a fost acolo sa aline, sa ofere o vorba buna. Nana este fiecare bunica sau matusa care a iubit neconditionat macar un copilas minunat. Sau mai multi, in egala masura. Nana s-a uitat pe ea si a mangaiat mai intai fruntea celor mici, a copiilor sau nepotilor. Nana iubeste si isi face griji pentru ei mereu; fie ca sta langa patul lor seara de seara sau ca locuieste la mii de kilometri distanta. Pe alte fusuri orare sau continente. Dragostea ei te ajunge de oricat de departe ar fi.

Nana povestii mele este bunica si mama. Are rochii dragute si zambete largi. Parul inca blond si spatele drept, desi greutatile vietii au atarnat si pe umerii sai. Nu s-a lasat doborata, a mers mai departe. A zambit si si-a scuturat toate grijile de pe umeri. Cand iti zambeste, ti se lumineaza si cea mai intunecata zi. Asta nu inseamna ca nu poate fi si autoritara la nevoie. Pentru ca puilor le prinde bine sa le amintim uneori ca nu au loc sa isi intinda aripile chiar cat si-ar dori; risca sa si le rupa. Asadar lectiile de zbor se fac incet, treptat, cu grija. Iar Nana este acolo sa ii prinda pe toti in bratele ei.

Nana mea nu mai e demult. Daca ar mai fi fost, mi-ar fi placut sa ne imbracam frumos si sa mergem la o plimbare prin oras. Sa mancam inghetata si sa ma intrebe ce amintire vreau sa imi cumpere din plimbarea noastra. Nu imi trebuie niciuna, am in minte si port in suflet toate amintirile de care am nevoie.

Totul sau nimic

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Sub soarele fierbinte de vara, niste oameni isi apara munca si valoarea. Esenta lor umana, tot ce au invatat si vor sa transmita mai departe. Fac asta, probabil, pentru ca toate celelalte incercari ale lor au fost in zadar. Au ramas neauziti si neascultati, neintelesi.

Nu sunt dascal. Dar as vrea sa cred ca macar o singura persoana a gasit ceva ce merita invatat din tot ceea ce incerc sa transmit.

Nu sunt de acord cu nedreptatea si ma intristeaza mereu neputinta oamenilor in fata unor obstacole pe care singuri nu au cum sa le invinga: judecata fara rost, rusinarea, ignorarea drepturilor lor fundamentale. Boala, suferinta, agresiunea.

In tara asta, orice ai face, undeva cineva considera ca nu faci bine. Daca ceri, de ce ai cerut, daca nu, cine te-a oprit? Daca esti bolnav, de ce nu ai avut grija de tine; daca iti sustii drepturile, de ce nu taci din gura.

Dascalii aceia din strada nu sunt baubau. Nu sunt niste “ei” extraterestri care ne vor raul. Suntem noi toti care uneori ne strigam, fie si fara voce, suferintele. Pentru ca nu mai putem si nu vrem sa renuntam. Si cerem ajutor! Si parca nimeni nu ne aude…

Dreptatea este in mod ideal o balanta. Insa intr-o societate atat de decalibrata este greu sa mentina un echilibru si atunci este datoria noastra, a tuturor, ca societate sa facem asta. Sa ne aparam si nevoile si neamul.

Sper sa ajungem vremuri cand cineva va apleca urechea si la povestile noastre, individuale sau colective, ca societate. Atat cat mai avem puterea sa le spunem. Apoi va fi prea tarziu… si o viata fara povesti este una fara trecut sau viitor. O lume trista, in care copiii nostri sunt singurii perdanti.

Origami

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V-am povestit oare ca la Bookfest am intalnit o fiinta minunata? Care venise in Romania tocmai din indepartata si enigmatica pentru unii dintre noi Japonie? Daa, a fost fascinanta intalnirea cu Nahoko, la standul editurii Portocala Albastra. Copilul a dorit sa mai mearga si a doua zi la targ, special sa se intalneasca din nou cu ea. Au desenat si au facut animalute din origami si si-au spus povesti. In engleza 🙂

Astazi am gasit in casa niste hartie pentru origami si copilul a vrut sa ma invete sa fac animalute origami si palariute de samurai pentru ele. Exact cum i-a aratat prietena ei Nahoko 🙂

Apoi am facut si un suport pentru betisoare.

Cam astea sunt rezultatele sesiunii de lucru din aceasta seara. Enjoy!