Pinocchio

The old wood-carver Geppetto decides to make a wonderful puppet which can dance and turn somersaults, but by chance he chooses an unusual piece of wood - and the finished puppet can talk and misbehave like the liveliest child. But Pinocchio is brave and inquisitive as well as naughty, and after some hair-raising adventures, he earns his heart's desire.Carlo Collodi (pen-name of Carlo Lorenzini) was born in Florence in 1826. He began his career as a journalist and worked as a civil servant before becoming a published author. In 1881 he wrote a short episode in the life of a wooden puppet for a newspaper, and it was an immediate success. The first English language version of the adventures of Pinocchio was published in 1892, two years after his death.