Tinocchia: The Adventures of a Jewish Puppetta by Curt Leviant

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Illustrators: Nava Chefitz, Gracen Deerman, Laura Spero

While in the archives room of the Siena Municipal Public Library, I noticed a cardboard box labeled “Lorenzini?” Since Lorenzini wrote Pinocchio under the pen-name Collodi, I opened the box and was astounded to see a handwritten manuscript titled: Tinocchia, the Adventures of a Jewish Puppetta. I photographed the pages, and soon enough translated the story into English. Tinocchia, the story’s narrator, is created by her carpenter father, Yossi, who named her after the Hebrew word for “baby,” tinok, and as a nod to his fellow woodworker, Geppetto, the creator of Pinocchio. While riding on her magic cart, Tinocchia bumps into a puppetto who introduces himself as Nipocchio. Naturally, the puppetto’s nose grows . . . Pinocchio and Tinocchia share adventures: Tinocchia becomes involved with Samael, the Dark Angel; Pinocchio and Tinocchia encounter pirates on a sailboat which gets overturned in a storm. One day Pinocchio visits as a real boy and o ers Tinocchia a magic salve. She scolds him that he has no right to take the salve. In any case, she does not want mortality; she wants to live. Pinocchio turns back into a puppetto to be with her. And, like in a true fairy tale, they live happily ever . . . after . . . presumably.

Year first published: 2023