Carved for Adventure!

"Do not strike me so hard!" pleads the wooden block, but Master Cherry the carpenter cannot believe his ears. Down comes his ax. The wood cries, "Oh!" And then, when Master Cherry shaves it with his plane, it giggles!

This is too much for the shaken carpenter. After recovering from his faint, he quickly gives the wood to his neighbor Gepetto, who carves it into surely the most wonderful puppet in literature. Pinocchio, in Carlo Collodi's best-loved classic, is an impish delight. He laughs and cries, is naughty, suffers from yielding to temptations just as we all might-but with a magical difference. At various times, his feet are burnt off in a
fire, his nose grows long (when he lies), he is turned into a donkey (when he is foolish) and he is swallowed by an enormous fish! And still he must suffer. For what Pinocchio wants most is to become a real boy-and, as everyone knows, for this, one must first
learn to be good . . .

PINOCCHIO was first published in book form in 1880, and over a million copies were sold. Its lovable hero's daring and fun-filled adventures - as well as the lessons it teaches -make it today as enchanting as ever.
--back cover