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The Grammar of Fantasy

An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories

Gianni Rodari Matthew Forsythe Jack Zipes

$64.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English
Enchanted Lion Books
10 July 2025
A collection of essays from the visionary storyteller Gianni Rodari about fairy tales and folk tales and their great advantages in teaching creative storytelling.

'Rodari grasped children's need to play with life's rules by using the grammar of their own imaginations. They must be encouraged to question, challenge, destroy, mock, eliminate, generate, and reproduce their own language and meanings through stories that will enable them to narrate their own lives.'- Jack Zipes 

Translated into English by acclaimed children's historian Jack Zipes and illustrated for the first time ever by Matthew Forsythe, this edition of The Grammar of Fantasy is one to live with and return to for its humor, intelligence, and truly deep understanding of children. A groundbreaking pedagogical work that is also a handbook for writers of all ages and kinds, The Grammar of Fantasy gives each of us a playful, practical path to finding our own voice through the power of storytelling. 
By:  
Illustrated by:   Matthew Forsythe
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Enchanted Lion Books
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 235mm,  Width: 159mm, 
ISBN:   9781592703050
ISBN 10:   1592703054
Pages:   316
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Gianni Rodari is widely considered the father of modern Italian children’s literature. In 1960, he collaborated with the Education Cooperation Movement to develop exercises to encourage children’s creative and critical thinking abilities. The recipient of the prestigious Andersen Prize in recognition of his contribution to children’s literature, he was also one of Italy’s most important educators and an activist who understood the liberating power of the imagination. Jack Zipes is a renowned children’s historian and folklorist who has written, translated, and edited dozens of books on fairy tales (Breaking the Magic Spell, The Irresistible Fairy Tale, The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm). He is professor emeritus of German and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. Matthew Forsythe is the award-winning author-illustrator of Pokko and the Drum and MINA, and illustrator of The Gold Leaf. He was also a designer on the animated shows Adventure Time and The Midnight Gospel, as well as the Oscar-nominated animated film Robin Robin. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories

RODARI’S LEGACY AS CHAMPION OF CHILDREN’S IMAGINATION: Building on the splash our English translation of Telephone Tales made in the US in 2020.   BREAKING DOWN STORYTELLING FOR TEACHERS & WRITERS   NEW ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MATT FORSYTHE


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