From the father of modernItalian children’s literature, a guide to fairytales and folk tales and theirgreat advantages in teaching creative storytelling. A groundbreaking pedagogical work that is also ahandbook for writers of all ages and kinds, The Grammar ofFantasy gives each of us a playful, practical path to finding our ownvoice through the power of storytelling. Full of ideas, glosses on fairytales,stories, and wide-ranging activities, including the fantastic binomial, thisbook changed how creative arts were taught in Italian schools.Gianni Rodari is widely regarded as the fatherof modern Italian children’s literature, but he is also remembered for hisvisionary pedagogy, and it is these two fields he combines in this revolutionaryessay collection. Translated into English by acclaimed children’s historianJack Zipes and illustrated for the first time ever by Matthew Forsythe, thisedition of The Grammar of Fantasy is one to live with andreturn to for its humor, intelligence, and truly deep understanding ofchildren. As translator and esteemed fairytale scholarJack Zipes puts it, “Rodari grasped children’s need to play with life’s rulesby using the grammar of their own imaginations.They must be encouraged toquestion, challenge, destroy, mock, eliminate, generate, and reproduce theirown language and meanings through stories that will enable them to narratetheir own lives.”“Ihope this small book,” writes Rodari, “can be useful for all those people whobelieve it is necessary for the imagination to have a place in education; forall those who trust in the creativity of children; and for all those who knowthe liberating value of the word.”