![]() They addressed subjects which children normally do not like at school, such as mathematics, grammar, world history, geography, astronomy, Greek mythology, and so on. Many of these books are educational in a gentle and entertaining way, teaching things through the mouth of Dona Benta and by smart questions and remarks, some impertinent, some savvy, by her small and attentive audience. These three universes are deftly intertwined so that the stories or myths told by the grandmother naturally become the setting for make-believe play, punctuated by routine farm events. However the adventures mostly develop elsewhere: either in fantasy worlds invented by the children, or in stories told by Dona Benta in evening sessions. These real characters were complemented by entities created or animated by the children's imagination: the irreverent doll Emília and the aristocratic corncob puppet Visconde, the pig Rabicó and the rhinoceros Quindim, Saci Pererê (a black, pipe-smoking, one-legged character of Brazilian Folklore) and Cuca (a evil monster that was used by Brazilian mothers at night to convince kids to go to bed). ![]() Most of his children books were set in the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo ("Ranch of the Yellow Woodpecker"), a small farm in the Brazilian countryside, and featured the elderly ranch owner Dona Benta, her grandchildren Narizinho ("Little Nose") and Pedrinho ("Little Peter") and the colored servant and cook Tia Nastácia ("Aunt Nastácia"). ![]() The writer, surrounded by some of his criatures ![]()
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