The Grammar of Fantasy

Rodari, Gianni. The grammar of fantasy: An introduction to the art of inventing stories. New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1996. [Original published in Italian, 1976. Translated and with an introduction by Jack Zipes].

"There is always one child who will ask a question and it will be exactly like this: "What do you have to do to invent a story?" This question deserves an honest answer."

I would love this book for the title, even if were not such a precise description of the contents. What a treat for me that it is so exactly about what it promises - the practical linguistic process of creating new stories and hands-on ways to use these ideas when working with children. Or: the honest answer to the child's question about how to invent a new story. And the answer is honest, drawing from the author's own experience as a prolific and celebrated writer of children's literature, as well as his experience helping facilitate the nuts-and-bolts of imagination with young students over many years.

The book is a collection of transcripts of short talks by the author done for teachers at the schools in Reggio Emilia, a small town in Italy with a huge influence on current ideas about early childhood education North America. Most of the 41 chapters are only a few pages long, and focus on a specific technique or function of language or part of the story-making or story-telling process. Writing in 1976, he has a very grounded understanding of the fractured fairy tale and the very specific dynamics of how and when to approach this process of deconstructing and re-imagining familiar fairy tales with children. On this topic, I especially liked: Chapter 12 - Popular Folk Tales as Raw Material; Chapter 13 - Making Mistakes in the Story; and Chapter 14 - Little Red Riding Hood in a Helicopter. Teachers will love the very specific pragmatic details about how to bring projects of the imagination into the classroom, but those with a more philosophical interest in the nature of language, story and imagination will also be satisfied with the depth of understanding and the quality of the writing itself. This is much more than an activity book - it is a grappling with pedagogy, with linguistic theory, with the writing process, with the role of story, and with the process of creation. It is a call for compassionate education and, above all, it is a championing of imagination both as a human right and as a practical process that can be supported in very concrete ways. Real examples of stories created by preschool and school age children are recorded and thoughtfully considered, but the techniques could easily be used by writers on any age.

I can only assume from the prices on Amazon.com that the book is out of print, and I find that tragic. So let's hope the libraries have been doing a good job along the way. Because this is a book worth reading.