22 Feb Lessons from Pinocchio

You know a book has made an impact on your child when they pick it up and throw it across the room! Never before has a book I have read to my children pulled out of them such feelings of anger, frustration, and justice as Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.

“Now wait,” you may be thinking, “You mean the cute little puppet in the Disney movie?” Yep. The same one. I saw the movie as a child and don’t remember it having a significant impact on me, to be honest. But the original book? Now that’s another story.

Italian author Carlo Collodi has written a masterful tale of the foolish puppet’s downfall through his destructive choices and his eventual journey into wisdom. The very, very hard part about reading this book is just how long Pinocchio continues to persist in his foolishness. In fact, it is not until the final two chapters that we see a real transformation occur.

The Power of Storytelling

One of the most powerful things about storytelling is the ability to show and illustrate lessons that can have a profound impact on the hearer/reader. The girls and I just memorized Proverbs 3, which is replete with wisdom such as: Listening to and following the teaching of parents (verse 1), Trusting in God rather than leaning on your own understanding (verses 5-6), Fearing the Lord and turning away from evil (verse 7), Honoring the Lord with your money (verse 9-10), and Receiving discipline as a loving gift (verse 11-12). And that’s just the first 12 verses.

All of these truths (and many others) are touched upon and illustrated through the story of Pinocchio. I have to say that while the girls memorized these verses, the truth of these proverbs goes down even deeper into their hearts when they hear a story like Pinocchio.

So, when did my ten year old throw the book across the room? What evoked such passion and disgust in her heart? Well, little Pinocchio was made by his “father” Geppetto, who was a very poor man. He had only one coat and it was so old and worn out that it was basically rags. And yet he loved his son so much he sold this one protection he had from the cold to buy Pinocchio an ABC book so that he could go to school and get an education. While Pinocchio initially is very thankful to his father for the book, he sells the book in order to go see a puppet show.

This was the point that my daughter picked the book out of my hands (I was reading it out loud) and threw it across the room. “What a wicked boy!,” She exclaimed with fury. “His dad gave up his only coat for him to go to school and look what he did?! He sold his book just for a show!”

Friends, I’m not going to lie – I was grinning from ear to ear at this point. We put the book down. We talked about what this story is teaching us. About choices we all will have and the choices we want to make and don’t want to make.

Words of Wisdom from Humble Sources

We also were able to watch the consequences of Pinocchio’s poor choices unfold and cringe in the suffering he endured that he could have avoided by listening to wise words that came to him along his journey. Collodi chose to use humble, small creatures in his story to impart words of powerful wisdom. A cricket, a snail, and a parrot all try to give sound advice to Pinocchio but he rejects their counsel. His “mother” (a blue fairy) and his father also speak wisdom to him.

In summary, the story of Pinocchio shows children the power of choices – whether foolish or wise. Other powerful lessons taught are the importance of choosing your friends wisely, honoring your parents, being responsible and valuing education. I highly recommend it as a read-aloud with your kids so that you are able to have conversations as you read the book together. Have you all read any great books with your kids lately? I would love to hear your recommendations!