Imagination and Teardrops

To Rodari, imagination was always revolutionary, because he thought that, when readers picture different worlds, they stop taking existing conditions for granted and learn to think about alternatives. His world bears similarities to Dr. Seuss as much as it does the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, bringing utopia and nonsense together.

In one of the stories in “Telephone Tales,” two children make up numbers and measurements on a whim. “How much does a teardrop weigh?” one asks. The other answers: “Depends. A willful child’s teardrop weighs less than the wind, but that of a starving child weighs more than the world.”