JK ROWLING, THE CHRISTMAS PIG (PP 320, EURO 18.90) Made of the same fabric as a soft towel, with soft paws of the right size to wipe a tear, plastic balls in the belly and two buttons for eyes. Mimalino is a stuffed pig, called Lino for short, with whom JK Rowling returns to tell us a wonderful new story for children and teenagers, which everyone will like. A unique story, which has no connection with her other works if not the inimitable figure in the writing and imagination of the creator of Harry Potter. The countdown is almost over and the highly anticipated novel 'The Christmas Pig' is arriving worldwide on October 12th, featuring illustrations by award-winning artist Jim Field. In Italy he publishes it,like all Rowling's books, Salani in the translation by Valentina Daniele and is an editorial event destined to become a super Christmas present.
More than twenty years after the first appearance of Harry Potter, the wizard with the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, the protagonist of a 7-volume saga that has depopulated all over the world, Rowling is now giving us a book "that has a special place in my heart "as the author says in her thanks.
It took him years to write it and "finally letting him go was a joyful and cathartic experience," he explains. Jack, who has never fallen asleep without Lino since he was two years old, has an immense love for his special-smelling pig, a scent that he retains even after washing. He is more than a special friend and companion, he is a part of him and when he feels sad or hurts he holds him tightly in his arms, as happened when his parents separated and when his mother found a new boyfriend. who has a daughter, Holly.
Until, just before Christmas, Jack loses his pig. Or rather Lino is thrown by Holly from the window of her grandparents' car during a trip on the highway. A loss that sets off a family tragedy in which many issues come to the surface.
Jack is desperate and Holly is sorry and tries to make up for his gesture by giving the child a new pig, but the replacement doesn't work because Jack wants to find his Lino at all costs. And here begins an amazing journey into a magical and unexpected world in the Land of Losers with its three cities: Disposable, Where Will It Never Be and the villas and canals of the City of Regrets where the gondolas pass under a stone bridge "on which a large silver pocket watch was walking, the reflection of which shone like a fallen moon. " It takes courage, but it is also the right time to go to this land ruled by the terrible Loser who devours the energy of objects, where the rules are strict, because we are in the night of miracles and lost causes and there is some hope of achieve the impossible.It is the night when things can talk. To explain it to Jack in his bedroom is a toy car that his father had given him and the Pig that Holly gave him, who will be his travel companion. After the opening of three doors, Jack finds himself among the Talking Things, the Lost Doti, meets Ruby the Book, the Mayor Grater, Pestone, the spiked boot, the Blue Bunny, the Broken Angel and there is also the Toilet Paper Angel which is a key element. And then he runs into Beauty, Ambition and Memory, until he arrives, among a thousand adventures and even runs on the sled, to the King and for the first time someone tells him that he knows where Lino is. And then down to the island of the Beloved where there will be a special meeting with a busy Santa Claus. Built for short chapters, divided into nine parts,that facilitate reading, recommended for children from 8 years old, but which fascinates everyone, is a story full of symbols that tell us about our relationship with things, with ourselves and with our emotions. Which makes us reflect on the things lost and on the things of the living, with an unexpected and not at all obvious ending.
A story you wish would never end, perfect for a movie.
With the Harry Potter saga, from the first volume 'The Philosopher's Stone', released in Italy by Salani in 1998 (a year earlier in England) to the last and seventh volume 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', published in 2008, the Rowling has sold over 500 million copies worldwide and over 13 million in Italy. And while it's hard to match this success, all of Rowling's books continue to win thousands of readers. In 2020 she returned to children's literature with the fairy tale 'The Ickabog', recovered from the attic and serialized online during the lockdown to entertain the little ones, with the launch of an image contest, and later published by donating all the its rights to help those most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.In between were the books by Robert Galbraith, the pseudonym used since 2013 with which Rowling told us about the investigations of Strike and her partner Robin Ellacott. (HANDLE).
