DOI: 10.20375/0000-0011-48a0-7
title: Mio fratello rincorre i dinosauri

description: Abstract: 
Giovanni has superpowers. Or at least his older brother, Jack, thought so when Gio was born. He is actually affected by Down syndrome, and as the years roll by, Jack realizes it. On the verge of starting high school, Jack feels fear and shame about his younger brother, particularly since he is making new friends and meets his first crush, Arianna. However, Gio and his joyfulness will find a way to help his older brother overcome his fears.
Details: 
The Mazzariol Family is composed of Davide, Katia and their three children: two girls and one boy. The youngest of the three, Jack, is the narrator of the story. One day, the parents announce to their kids that Katia is pregnant with another baby, and they decide together on his name: Giovanni. 
It is only after his birth that they find out that he has Down syndrome. In an effort to explain it to the kids, they tell them that he is going to live in a world of his own and that he is going to grow up at a slower pace. Not knowing what that meant, Jack started thinking that his brother had something special, like a superhero. 
The story fasts forward a couple of years after Gio had already undergone surgery and he was growing up, developing a particular love for dinosaurs. Jack was still trying to figure out what his brother’s superpowers were when he was finally told that his brother was actually affected by a disability. Worried about him and mad at his parents for not telling him earlier, he started to blow off some steam by playing the drums.
As the years roll by, Jack is finally a teenager, and his enthusiasm towards his brother transforms into rejection and shame. He has a hard time accepting his brother’s condition because he’s particularly worried about Gio’s future and health. As a reaction to that, he feels ashamed to talk about him and looks for ways to escape the reality of his home. He decides he wants to attend high school outside of his hometown. There, he meets Arianna, a girl he starts to have a crush on, who is an activist and wants to found a student union. So, he gets his parents to agree to let him attend that high school, joins the student union and convinces his friend Vitto to follow him. 
In order to fit in and make an impression on Arianna, he feels like he needs to lie about having a brother because of his disability and, therefore, hides his existence from his new friends. He starts making friends with older schoolmates who hang out at the community centre and play drums in their band, even though by doing so, he neglects school and distances himself from Vitto. 
In the meantime, Gio, encouraged by the rest of the family, wants to create a YouTube channel to post some videos about him, but since Jack had lied about having a brother with Down syndrome, he tries to prevent that from happening. When Giovanni asks for help from Vitto, he opens the channel and starts posting some videos of his brother. Jack secretly deletes his videos and invents a fake boycott started by a Nazi movement against his brother. The news makes the front page of the local newspaper, and the family decides to organize a protest in the town’s square. The situation, though, really gets out of hand when Arianna’s union decides to join Jack’s family in the protests. There, Jack feels guilty and gives a beautiful speech about his brother, but he also decides to come clean and confess his lies and that he was behind the fake boycott. 
His family, his friends and Arianna are disappointed and angry. He is kicked out of the band, and he finds himself alone and full of regrets. The only one who forgives him right away is his brother Gio. After a talk with his parents and his older sisters, he manages to apologize and, for the first time, talks to them about his fears concerning his brother’s future and health. His family shows him support, and from that moment on, his relationship with his brother improves and helps him film a video for his YouTube channel. 
As for Arianna, he manages to reconcile with her thanks to his brother and his spontaneity. However, she is moving with Milan to go live with her father. He also makes peace with Vitto, who, in the last scene, is the one giving him the good news that one of Gio’s videos has gone viral.