The Thirteenth Piglet
Martina Tonello
The dust king’s window
Historical
Picture book
An attic, a friendship, a farewell. And the desire to rewrite memory through the power of imagination.
In the Lublin ghetto, tucked away in an attic, lies Henio’s kingdom — a young Jewish boy with a secret he shares only with his best friend, who is not Jewish. Behind one dusty window pane hides a wonder: a different world, a place of peace perhaps, so unlike the horrors seen through the other window — the one facing war. For those who are Jewish, the time to flee has come. On the night of March 16th, Henio runs to his friend, begging him to escape together. But fear wins, and the friend stays behind. By morning, on the day of the roundup, Henio is gone. The boy searches everywhere — even in the attic. There, he finds a quiet, unexpected gift: small handprints on the windowpane, and a name written like a final goodbye.
- A powerful and poetic tale that explores Holocaust memory through the lens of childhood — with grace, sensitivity, and emotional depth.
- The words of Pierdomenico Baccalario and the evocative illustrations of Alice Barberini turn a historical event into a universal reflection on loss, friendship, and hope.
Publisher:
Orecchio Acerbo
Target:
8-10
Year:
2023
Author
Pierdomenico Baccalario
Pierdomenico Baccalario has been writing children’s novels since 1997, when he won the Il Battello a Vapore literary prize with La strada del Guerriero (The Way of the Warrior) using his neighbour’s name. Since then, his bestsellers have been written under as many pseudonyms (the best known being Ulysses Moore and Irene Adler), translated into more than thirty languages and published with major Italian and foreign publishers. He has collaborated with Lucca Comics & Games for more than twenty years, has written for Repubblica, and is a columnist for the newspaper Corriere della Sera’s La Lettura literary supplement. In 2014, he founded the Book on a Tree creative agency in London.
Author
Alice Barberini
Born in 1977 in Cesena but a Rimini native at heart, Alice Barberini studied art in Ravenna and, after graduating, her interest in restoration took her to Florence, where she completed her studies and worked for several years as a restorer. In 2007, she discovered the world of illustration and decided to change careers. Along this new creative path, she was fortunate to learn from some of the great masters of illustration, including Mauro Evangelista, Carll Cneut, Gek Tessaro, Dušan Kállay, Camila Stancolová, Luigi Raffaelli, Maurizio Quarello, and Giovanna Zoboli. She has both written and illustrated Giocattoli (2024), and illustrated several other titles: La finestra del re di polverewritten by Pierdomenico Baccalario (2023), Ernest e Biancaneve by Luca Tortolini (2022), In tre tube (shortlisted for the Andersen Prize as Best Silent Book, 2020), Hamelin, la città del silenzio (winner of the Luzzati Prize, 2017), and Il cane e la luna (winner of the Giacomo Giulitto Prize, 2015).
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