The Book of Whys

A Children's Book Council January 2023 Hot Off the Press selection!

“This witty, irreverent poetry collection grew out of Rodari's 1950s newspaper-column responses to Italian children who took him up on his offer: ‘Everything has a reason why: just ask me and I'II reply.’” —New York Times

“Rodari (1920-80), his country’s most celebrated 20th-century writer for children, took questions sent in by young readers over the course of several years to l’Unità, the newspaper of the Italian Communist Party. A selection of these entries, smoothly translated by Antony Shugaar and illustrated with zest and humor by JooHee Yoon, appears in The Book of Whys, a beguiling volume suited for sampling rather than for reading straight through… Rodari tackles all these questions with respect for the innocence and curiosity of his unseen interlocutors but without pandering or (mostly) showing his politics… His answers usually had two parts: one chatty and factual, the other jocose and poetic. Addressing the question of why river water is murky, Rodari writes that ‘as rivers descend from mountains, … they load themselves up with mud and debris, which they release into the sea.’ To accompany this very sensible explanation, he offers a ditty about all the famous rivers (the Thames, the Tiber, the Indus and others) meeting in the middle, as it were, and becoming subsumed and anonymous as their waters ‘swirl waves of brine.’” —Wall Street Journal

“A wild amalgamation of poetry, philosophy, science, and stellar art, this is a book just as eclectic, wild, and whimsical as its creator. It’s honestly not like anything out there… The unsung hero of this story is, in fact, translator Antony Shugaar… Shugaar is as good as he is at not simply translating a poem but getting it to rhyme AND be funny in the same way it would be funny in Italian… Shugaar is as adept as maintaining rhyme and meter as he is inserting words like ‘coinkydink’ into a line… Yoon’s art serves as a rather perfect accompaniment… I get the feeling that she’s having fun experimenting. One moment she might be shading hyper-realistic eggs on a page. The next, it’s wordless two page spreads that simply show an older sister and younger brother entering a forest of towering trees… Unabashedly, unapologetically Italian, lacking in any easily-slotted categories, and filled with funny, sometimes brilliant, translations and poems, The Book of Whys is an oddity. In a sea of samey samey children’s books, it sticks out like a sore thumb. That isn’t a criticism… A strangely moving, beautifully illustrated, odd as heck little book.“ —Betsy Bird, A Fuse 8 Production (A School Library Journal blog)

“Translated questions from kids, answered by renowned Italian children’s writer Rodari in his 1950s newspaper columns… His ethos shines through in this work; respect for his child audience mingles with his pro-labor, anti-authoritarian outlook. He often appends mini-parables and rhyming ditties to his answers. Throughout, Rodari excoriates proverbs for their fusty, contradictory didacticism… Rodari provides pithy answers to basic queries about rainbows, light bulbs, and auto engines… His riff on the secret to lifelong happiness is lovely and affirmative: ‘You learn it from life.’ Depicting diverse children and adults, Yoon’s whimsical illustrations further enliven the text. Welcome insights from a celebrated author.” —Kirkus

“Based on columns that Rodari wrote for Italian daily newspaper l’Unità from 1955 to 1958 in which he addressed wide-ranging topics from young readers, this quixotic collection of poems provides comical answers for each query. Evergreen wonderings such as ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ and ‘Why do your eyes sting when you chop an onion?’ prompt playful yet scientific responses rendered in rhyme that paint witty stories infused with vivacious word play. Kindness radiates… The compassionate and educational replies are enhanced by midcentury-modern-style color pencil illustrations by Yoon, who depicts worshipped Egyptian cats, figures of varying skin tones engaging in myriad activities, and whimsy galore, making for a simultaneously thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud work that tackles questions regarding flights of fancy and contemporary existence.” —Publishers Weekly

“He [Rodari] has been compared to Lewis Carroll in regards to his style of using ‘logic and illogic’ to shape his responses. He aimed to help children make sense of their world. Each question and their answers are paired with Yoon’s beautiful illustrations, which are as charmingly eccentric as the answers. They are done in a fantastic colored pencil style, and vary from a small corner or page border to entire spreads.” —School Library Journal