Bambini testedure, adolescenti extraterrestri e nonni ciliegi. Un viaggio metaforico tra le infanzie di alcuni scrittori italiani contemporanei di letteratura per l’infanzia

This contribution retraces the subject of some novels by contemporary Italian writers of children’s literature, chosen among those who seem to best represent the ‘good literature’, able to build critical and creative readers, inclined to shape their own depiction of reality and to step into an utopian way towards the research. A literature that teaches children how to face life’s problems and find the right key to change the world towards a democratic direction. The model of ‘nonconformist’ literature this contribution refers to looks at the epistemological model of Gianni Rodari and the fantastic creativity he uses to tell children the reality without restriction and censure. Then, the Rodari’s model has been recovered by many contemporary children’s literature writers, such as Donatella Ziliotto, Angela Nanetti, Bianca Pitzorno, Giusy Quarenghi, who are taken into account within this contribution for their ability to see literature as an tool of growth and as a support for child’s identity construction, with a particular reference to gender identity which today is still object of stereotypes and cultural conditionings that often weaken the development of children in their need to freely respond to their personal attitudes. A fundamental role in child’s growth is played by grandparents, to whom some of these novels are addressed, as mediators among different generations and who are able to support children in the process of reconstructing their past and planning their future.