Fantasy · Children
The Adventures of Pinocchio
A wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy keeps getting into trouble, and his nose keeps growing.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
A talking log
Master Cherry, a carpenter, is about to turn a piece of wood into a table leg when the wood begs him not to hit it so hard. Terrified, he gives it to his poor friend Geppetto, who wants to carve a marvelous puppet that can dance and fence. Before Geppetto has finished, the puppet is mocking him, and as soon as it has legs it runs off down the street. Pinocchio means well, but he is lazy, rash and easily tempted, and his adventures (with a Talking Cricket, a Fox and a Cat, a fairy with blue hair and an enormous shark) are both funny and frightening. Carlo Collodi published the story in installments before it appeared as a book in 1883.
Why it works for learners
Collodi wrote for children, in short, punchy chapters that each end in a new scrape. The language is lively and concrete: food (Pinocchio is always hungry), money, school, animals, lies and promises. The episodic structure means you can read one adventure at a sitting, and the characters are vivid and quickly told apart. If you know the 1940 film, be ready: the book is wilder, ruder and darker, and the nose grows far less often than you’d expect.
Which level to start at
A2 is ideal. B1 adds more of Collodi’s humor and his asides to the reader. For learners of Italian, Pinocchio is one of the best-loved books in the language and a natural first Italian classic, at whatever level you’re reading. Lexo’s narration gives Pinocchio, Geppetto and the Fox their own voices, which helps when the puppet is talking his way out of trouble.
Read next
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, another child among talking creatures
- Grimms’ Fairy Tales, the old tales behind so many children’s stories
- Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up