Collection: Carlo Collodi

Carlo Collodi, 1826 to 1890, was a Florentine newspaperman and translator who came to children's writing late and without much enthusiasm for it. He ran Pinocchio: The Tale of the Puppet in installments in a children's paper from 1881, reportedly intending to kill the character off before readers made him continue.

The original is far tougher and stranger than the soft version everybody thinks they know. The puppet is selfish, he is repeatedly warned, he ignores the warnings, and the consequences arrive. Lies catch up with him. Work, and looking after someone other than himself, are what finally make him real.

Children feel the justice in it immediately, which is why it has never needed softening. Parents tend to find it harder going than their children do.