“The ultimate synthesis of Rodari’s exuberant knowledge, a book of both pedagogy and poetics, poetry for teachers and pedagogy for poets.”

A Marginalian Favorite Book of 2025! "Rodari yearned for a way to unite his passions for philosophy, teaching, and justice. And so he started writing stories, songs, and poems for children, insisting over and over, in subtle and sensitive ways, on the human capacity for independent and imaginative thinking... A dazzling, deeply original book... only now available in English with enchanting illustrations by Matthew Forsythe."
The Marginalian

Holds great value for the adults who teach kids and the adults who write for them... The book is funny, freewheeling and angry, animated by Rodari’s fury at an educational system in which ‘imagination is still treated like a poor relation of attention and memory...’ He offers classroom games that puncture the barriers between academic disciplines... The Grammar of Fantasy is less a manual on how to write for kids than a treatise on why we must respect them as readers, written by an author whose life’s work was underpinned by an appreciation of the child’s ‘underlying seriousness, and the moral engagement that she brings to everything she does.’
The New York Times

STARRED REVIEW! ? “This book is profoundly inspiring. It speaks about education in a way that acknowledges the writing process as nonlinear, winding, and deeply subjective. Rodari doesn’t just advocate for imaginative thinking in children; he invites educators to adopt this mindset as well, creating a ripple effect that fuels an entire learning environment with curiosity and play. VERDICT: A must-have for educators and librarians looking to inject creativity into their classrooms. Rodari provides a thoughtful, informed approach to how imagination and play can foster critical thinking.”
School Library Journal