Felici coincidenze

Proprio ieri mattina, con felicità, ritrovavo l’edizione americana di un albo Pere Castor, un albo di poche pagine che cercavo da tempo ma che non riuscivo più a trovare. Per il fatto di essere senza costa, si era nascosto fra altri volumi, e quando mi è scivolato fra le mani ho urlato di gioia.
Più tardi, leggendo come ogni mattina il blog dei Topi ho ritrovato anche qui Nathalie Parain.
Nella introduzione americana, firmata da Edith Kovar si svela l’identità di Pere Castor:
“His real name is Paul Faucher. “Pere Castor” is the French way of saying “Father Beaver”, the name which this man has chosen to use on all of the books which he designs or plans. He is very much interested in modern methods of education. In 1927 he founded the “French Bureau of Education” which is the French section of the “International Bureau of Education” at Ginevra. Under the title of “Education” he collected a number of works about new methods and new ideas of teaching. He is also president of the French group of “Education Nouvelle”, which is the French branch of the “New Education Fellowship.”
From his interest in thes things grew a desire to publish a series of books for children, which should carry out the new principles in every detail of each book. Some of the books are story books which are intended only to amuse; others are “play books” which require some activity on the part of the child. All of them, however, are carefully planned so that the details form an harmonious whole.“

Grazia Gotti