Young readers will soon receive information increasingly from the classic ethical messages of the children’s books of the new Quello che c’era a volta: fairy tales after weather replacement (a pun with the word “once upon a time”). Eight authors founded in Genoa, Italy, have decided on 23 stories and placed them in ruined ecosystems, for long-term generations to expand critical thinking.
The commission was born about a year ago and partly, when general attention to the climate at its peak and the Genoese illustrators of Studio Rebigo had to propose a new collective self-production to present. So they imagined how complicated it could be to describe a forest, blank water and wildlife to young people who had never had a chance to revel in those things.
“At a time when everyone talks about the future, the conscious young people and the kind of world they will inherit from us, it seemed right to think of our target audience, the generations to come and their parents, which are lately our peers,” explains illustrator Alessandro Parodi. Hence the question: what global and what stories will we leave?
The organization explored deforestation, plastic pollution, global warming and urbanization through drawings of dystopian environmental disasters. Revised stories include popular stories such as The Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Bean, as well as classics such as Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A World Tour Underwater, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Grimms’ Gretel, Italo Calvino’s Tree Baron and Frances Eliza Hodg’s Secret Garden.
The ebook designed for the little ones and everyone who treats them, from parents to teachers. “We don’t need to teach anything, as we’re still reading for ourselves, yet we hope that the eBook can help readers broaden critical thinking on those issues and ultimately make them think about their little daily gestures.
In terms of clinical accuracy, the consultation of Francesco Martinelli, naturalist and collaborator of National Geographic, the key. “We used the knowledge he recommended to make drawings that were accurate to expert predictions,” Parodi explains. “To make all this readable, we chose to separate the irony, which is entrusted to the images, and a specific moment of reflected image about the problem, entrusted to the infographic at the end of each thematic macrochate.”
The total task is sustainability. As such, the illustrators relied on Genoese Typography Grafica KC, the first Eco-Print qualified typography in Europe, and concerned the local criminal to offer prisoners an opportunity for social and pro reintegration.
Self-production is nothing new for Studio Rebigo, which has been running in combination since 2015 and has already published Epic Cycling (a collection of illustrated stories about the world of cycling), Laika (dedicated to the first dog in space) and the Zanzine Mosquito Survival Manual.
Quello che c’era a volta has not yet come out, however, crowdfunding will start next month and will be how the cultural occasions face to face have been postponed due to COVID-19. A virtual show night is scheduled for September 8.
“We hope that encouraging comments [that we’ve had] will be shown through crowdfunding,” adds parody. “And this, above all, will be a starting point to take a look at the planet on which we live with a more guilty eye.”