‘Scemarella’ is born, the heroine of fantasy against bullying

A fable for children, which also has a lot to teach to adults, in which increasingly complex social problems on the agenda are faced lightly. A fantasy novel that, in a funny way, deals with important themes such as bullying, body shaming, acceptance of oneself, of one’s qualities but also of one’s defects. And ‘all this’ The fabulous tale of the fairy Scemarella’, the second book by Pietro Clementi, playwright and writer, as well as director and actor, who in 2015 founded the company ‘A fairytale theater’. The fantasy novel illustrated by Valerio Chiola, which will arrive on the shelves with the publisher Gallucci at the end of September, is the second literary work of Clementi who in 2020 published with the same publisher ‘It is not the fault of the stork’. The story is set in the magical world of Favolosia, halfway between the earth and fairy tales where fairies are born from beautiful flowers. From an artichoke, on the other hand, an imperfect fairy is born, plump and a little clumsy, who finds herself, against her will, the name of ‘Scemarella’. You will only be able to count on the friendship of a special dog to overcome very hard tests and fight against the perfidy of an evil fairy, without losing heart. Clementi, speaking with Adnkronos, argues that the book “will cause a lot of discussion, for two reasons: the first is that it addresses an important, hard and dramatic theme such as bullying and body shaming, also using crude epithets (‘fat, fat , scema ‘) that are often heard. But the text manages in a simple, fun and natural way, to help all children to believe in themselves and not to be struck by words that no one should ever say “. But the novel, for Clementi, contains a further element of novelty: “For the first time in an Italian fairy tale for all children – he claims – one of the protagonists, the dog Othello, is a LGBTQ + character”. Obviously, the author specifies, “the theme is touched upon in a very simple and natural way. Othello is a male Labrador but he has always had a desire to wear ‘fairy wings’. He builds fake wings, out of fabric, wears them in front of the mirror and is surprised by his herd, or his family, with those wings. He is attacked, beaten by him like him just because he has a different behavior from the ‘pack’. In the book there is an image of Othello after being beaten: he is scared, scared with his wings all broken. It is a very tender, symbolic image and I believe it can touch the heartstrings of young readers who must understand everyone’s respect and inclusiveness from an early age. And that expressing oneself is a right ”, concludes Clementi.