In a different life, maybe Anna Baccelliere would have been an actress. As a child she acted out scenes from her future with remarkable realism, gathering her friends and reading them her stories, which she not only wrote but bound together using paper, scissors and glue. She was the teacher, they were the students, and it was story time—just as it often is in her own classroom today.
Anna Bacceliere is now a children’s author and a teacher in Grumo Appula, Italy, where she was born and raised. Her first published children’s book was released in 2004, and she’s won numerous national and international awards since then. Those who know her well describe her as “a mix between Mary Poppins and an erupting volcano”—and though her Mary Poppins side may bring plenty of whimsy, her books often address the most serious topics.
I Like, I Don’t Like, Baccelliere’s first work published in English, is certainly no exception. The book offers an eye-opening introduction to the global issue of child labor. Every child in the world has the right to play—but unfortunately, that universal right is often ignore. I Like, I Don’t Like presents this reality to readers by showing how children in varying circumstances can see the same object or activity very differently. It’s a book that is sure to inspire meaningful discussions about privilege and poverty while building compassion in young readers.
