PAOLA PERETI
I stop to greet the cherry. From the road I cross every morning with my dad I can see her from afar (a little far). I try to spot her with my eyes half closed and finally the red mark. It may be dull, but it's there.
Maffalda is nine years old, wears thick glasses and knows outside and mixes the Climbing Baron of Italian Calvino. She pops it from her teachers and climbs the cherry tree at the entrance of her school together with Otimos Turkare, her faithful cat who follows her everywhere. She dreams of living on this cherry tree one day, but in a few months she will not be able to see it anymore because her eyes lose their light and little by little, day by day, she goes blind. The idea that she will be left in the dark forever scares her. That's why she keeps a diary, in which she writes down all the things she can no longer do, such as counting the stars and playing football with Filippos, the bully of the class who only talks to her. Thanks to the help of her family and friends, Maffalda understands that there is another way to see things. So she learns to measure her distance from the cherry with the scent of flowers as her companion and begins to write a new list. A list of things he values and can still do.
A story that teaches us to see what does not yet exist and to fight for our dreams.
