Albi illustrati “rivoluzionari”, “militants”, “non-sexist”: la ricezione di Dalla parte delle bambine in Italia, Francia e Regno Unito

Adela Turin’s publishing house Dalla parte delle bambine (literally: On the side of little girls) was a landmark in Italian children’s literature. Its revolutionary feminist picturebooks met many mothers’ demand to present their daughters (and sons) with new books, free from the common and worn-out sexist stereotypes. Investigating the reception of these innovative books is of particular interest. In fact, although several titles enjoyed substantial sales and critical success, as evidenced by the awards they received at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the publishing house had a relatively brief life: its years of production occurred between 1975 and 1982. Moreover, as noted by Salviati, Dalla parte delle bambine generally received a better response abroad than at home (2002, p. 41). With the aim of exploring the international reception of the publishing house, this article proposes a study of the press reviews in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom of Turin’s first four picturebooks: Rosaconfetto, Una fortunata catastrofe, Arturo e Clementina, and La vera storia dei bonobo con gli occhiali. The argument highlights that some reviewers appreciated the novel elements of Dalla parte delle bambine’s books and, conversely, that others noted critical issues and sometimes rejected their militant content.