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The book was never written for children, it was a satirist writing for adults under the guise of a children's book, just as it wrote under the guise of "travel guides". Even at the time, this work was considered weird and not in line with the morality of children's literature.

But even if you accept that children's lives back then were particularly brutal and this was in fact meant as a children's book: there is no evidence to suggest that exposing children to brutality in books will somehow help them function in a brutal world. If anything, I would think that such children especially need something "beautiful" in their lives: the fairy who comes with good advice, the dragon slain in the end, the lost child who finds their way home. A bit of hope.

But I'm not a pedagogue, just a dad.

by mmarq4 hours ago|

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Pinocchio was published in 1–2-page instalments in “Giornale per i bambini”, a magazine for children.

by kakacik4 hours ago|

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I dont think you are correct. In many parts of Europe, dark folk tales told kids from early age were the norm till very recently. I read and heard such, and they were brutal.

Did they prepare me better for life? Nobody can answer that without time machine. For certain they didnt instill any trauma, you need real world for that and not fantasy. Dont treat kids like some fragile porcelaine dumb beings, they grok most of real world fast, see all the bad parts and can handle it way better than overprotective parents like to admit. They often cant express their thinking effectively but they see, hear and understand most of the adult world well.

I certainly read those stories too to my kids.

by anthk2 hours ago|

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Don't be so naive. My parents in Spain are now 70's and lived through rough times in villages in the postwar/dictatorship Spain. Even under the National-Catholic regime these stories were published with the raw violence untouched for kids. You know, better if they were scared than misbehaving around and being shooted down from a farmer, eated alive from feral beasts in the mountains or something worse.

And I've read gorier stories from damn Catholic journals for late aged kids in the 50's -from my parents, as they had tons of distinct books- will full depiction of beheadings from God's will in Africal trives and whatnot that would set a straight +18 sign in the cover today.

by pmontra4 hours ago|

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I was born in the second half of the 20th century, I read Pinocchio as a child and the Grimm brothers and more. Those were the books for children. Did they damage us compared to kids of 50 years later? I can't tell. Probably nobody can tell until at least next century.

by anthk2 hours ago|

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Spain until the late 60's (because the dictatorship put Spain cultural and economically behind the rest of Europe. My rural parents began to help parents in their village even at age 4 doing small tasks. No wonder the age on consent in Spain until a decade and a half ago was as low as 14... because it was a unchanged byproduct from the 70's/ society, where by age 14 the 99% of the population couldn't affort anything but basic education (which lasted into that age) and for sure by 14 you woud already be working in a trade as an apprentice as every other adult. And, OFC, you would have aches in your back because of farming with your parents (and women helped at home too).

So a 14 year old in the 1960 could one-hit KO a current 18yo kid from today in the spot because they had drastic hormonal and physical changes due to the hard work. OFC when they hit 30 they almost looked like 50 yo's from today.

I always laugh at some old soccer trading cards from the 80's where tons of players being at 19 look like men in their 40's. Yes, tons of them smoked like chimeneys and drank like pirates.