Once upon a time there was a mother with a baby so small than he could live inside a nutshell. His name was Benjamino, which means the youngest.

Everyday his mother woke him up sent him to take care of the three cows they owned: the White, the Black and the Spotted one.

“My grandmother Felicitas was born in a small village in the Piamonte, in the North of Italy, and from that region came to me the adventures of Gioannin ca boija (Juancito el que que se las ingenia -“Johnny, the witty”-) and Ciatvin cit (“The small shoemaker”) that she told us, perhaps to teach us that  no matter how small you are, with a bit od audacity and a bit of luck you can outsmart the wolves and the trolls“. María Teresa Andruetto.

Benjamino, as many other characters that we remember from our first tales, compensates with intelligence what he lacks in size. Inspired in the oral Italian tradition, María Teresa Andruetto rescues the tones, the humour and the sound of the timeless short stories to revive the charm and the art of story telling for those who start reading.

Published  by : Alfaguara

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