Dino Buzzati The Inspiring Story of a Genius in Farsi and English

For the child who draws in the margins and writes stories at night

Dino grows up in Belluno, where his father’s family has lived for generations. His father teaches international law and his mother is a veterinarian, so the house is full of books and animals. One sunny afternoon he sits under a tree with his sketchbook and draws a butterfly so carefully that his parents clap; at school he writes a story about a boy with a key that opens doors to other worlds.

Most of the book is about how many interests fed his writing: science and new inventions, music, philosophy, history, cooking and architecture each get their own page. Later chapters show him studying law, painting theater backdrops, and starting at a newspaper, where he learns that reporting can also be storytelling.

At a glance

Inside the book

Chapter titles such as “A Boy with a Big Imagination” open with a short motto.

Lines from the book

From the first chapter:

Two useful words: پروانه (parvâne, butterfly) and درخت (derakht, tree).

Ideas for reading together

1. Read the butterfly chapter, then ask your child to draw something from the garden while you name it in Persian.
2. Read the English first, then the Persian, one paragraph at a time.
3. Keep a little journal like Dino’s: one sentence and one sketch a day, in Persian or in both languages.
4. Review nature and animal words with the free Persian vocabulary quiz.

Who this book is for

Use it with

• The Story of Jorge Luis Borges: another writer of strange and dreamlike stories.
• The Story of Gabriel García Márquez: another writer whose stories mix the everyday and the magical.

Common questions