Geronimo Stilton in the City

Geronimo Stilton

                                                   Geronimo  Stilton  in  the City !

The news is all over town – Geronimo Stilton arrives in Panjim on 21^st May.  Kids addicted to Geronimo series are elated and awaiting his arrival with baited breath. What is it that makes every child amass Geronimo books in their book shelves? Foremost would be the words of varying fonts, sizes and colours sprinkled within the very readable text. Maps, fun- bits and bites and the catchy colourful illustrations count no less. The pithy prose is easy to read and grasp, also fast and eventful to move the plot ahead.  Puns, similes and metaphors abound to tinker and spice up a child’s imagination.  In all the series are action-packed, relentless and dramatic.  

 I was introduced to Geronimo a month back by two young readers Aarav and Avnita in Goa. What a coincidence that I just about finished reading the rows of Geronimo housed at Broadway, Panjim when Geronimo decided to come to town! True to what my young friends had told me, Geronimo is an international children book series that is being followed by kids in the age group of 6 -10 years.  Anyway, Goa sure shot has a great following amongst the kids-club here, they said.  By the way, friends, Geronimo Stilton is a mild - mannered mouse, the editor of Rodent’s Gazette who lives in Mouse city on Mouse Island. Welcome to the Geronimo FAN Society !

Edizione Piemme is the Italian publisher working in tandem with the author Elsabetta Dami ( writes under the pseudonym of Geronimo Stilton), since the turn of the new millennium, churning out new Geronimo series. I suppose, seeing the commercial success and quality reading, Scholastic jumped into the fray in 2004 to publish English translations of the series in different parts of the world.  It is indeed remarkable that the author has written 250 books and these books have been translated into 40 languages.  Dami developed stories to tell sick children in hospitals where she was a volunteer, and there began her journey to write adventure stories of the irresistible Geronimo mouse. She believes that every child is special and we are all one. She is still dazed by the commercial success of her books.    

The question is why does Geronimo have a cult following not only amongst children but is wholly recommended by librarians and teachers, too. The answer, I was to discover, lies in the core philosophy of the books.  The master stroke of the author is that she created a mouse character that is not a superhero. He is like the good kid next door, home-bound, loves books and writing, is a sincere worker and leader.  He is ethical, puts his heart and soul into his work of reading and writing books. He is not given to bragging or any kind of falsity.  He believes in family values and having lots of friends. He is the one who holds his elders in deference (Grandfather William), is a loyal friend, works superbly in a team and does not find fault with others.

He leads his staff at the Rodent’s Gazette by example and COOPERATION is his guiding mantra.  He is beset by many fears but shows courage when the situation demands. He understands that confronting your fears is the simplest and best way of overcoming them. To evolve and become better is a life long journey.  He is ready to fight out his weaknesses if they stand in the way of his success and friendship. Even when he is in a hopeless situation, he does not dwell on the negativities for long.  His optimistic spirit helps him find a way out of impossible situations.

Though Geronimo would love to stay at home, yet his work takes him all over the world. His good nature wins him friends easily and he has an open-minded attitude to diverse cultures and people with different abilities.  With his adversaries, his attitude is never one of confrontation, but that of fair play in a healthy competition. He hates wars, strife and any kind of violence.  He is always ready to embrace differences and find an amicable solution suitable to everyone.

The Geronimo stories idealize peace.  Wars, alcohol, drugs, weapons, gambling, hunting have no place in the stories.  Adventure, travel and knowledge reign supreme but fairies, orges, demons, elves (the harbingers of illusionary fairy tales) find no mention here. Going by the philosophy of Geronimo stories, it isn’t surprising that every parent would like their child to acquire Geronimo’s qualities and therefore, ready to buy the child a Geronimo set to read.

It’s hard to lure the teachers away from the children’s classical literature in classrooms. They would look down their long noses, if asked to consider anything contemporary to use as tools of teaching-learning-process in their lessons (I am one of them).  But here, these very classy teachers have discovered a viable,  introducible, teachable series to not only improve their students’ vocabulary, but also to get them on to research, map-reading, history, geography,  palaeontology and much more and in the process enhance their analytical skills.

Parents often, these days, lament that their children do not read.  If that’s the case, then I would say that such kids should be introduced to the spunky series.  And surely, the irrepressible Geronimo will make a reader out of them!

Broadway, Panjim will host Geronimo Stilton on 21^st May, 2016 at 5:00pm.