Title: Telephone Tales
Description: A collection of nearly seventy short and surreal stories told by Signor Bianchi, a traveling salesman, to his daughter over the telephone nightly.

Every night, at nine o&#x2019;clock, wherever he is, Mr. Bianchi, an accountant who often travels for work, calls his daughter and tells her a bedtime story. Set in the 20th century era of pay phones, each story has to be told in the time that a single coin will buy. One night, it&#x2019;s the story of a carousel so beloved by children that an old man finally sneaks on to understand why, and as he sails above the world, he does. The next night, it&#x2019;s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to defy expectations and do things differently. Reminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari&#x2019;s Telephone Tales is composed of many stories within a story. Each is set in a different place and time, with unconventional characters and a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy. Awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1970, Gianni Rodari is widely considered to be Italy&#x2019;s most important children&#x2019;s author of the 20th century. Gorgeously illustrated by Italian artist Valerio Vidali&#x200B;, these stories entertain with wit, surprise, and imagination.--
Subjects: Children's fiction, Humorous stories, Short stories, Storytelling, Fiction, JUVENILE FICTION / Imagination & Play, JUVENILE FICTION / Short Stories, JUVENILE FICTION / Humorous Stories