The first of the series of “Giulia Ballar Children’s Books” is entitled “The Year of the Rat”. This book presents a portrait of Giulia Ballar’s character, a young Dominican girl who comes from a poor family. At a very young age, she seems to be abandoned by her family and given to strangers. She has been traumatized at a young age and has a very strange, even mysterious, way of remembering events in her past. In this charming little book written by Leo Brouwer, we are introduced to the charming little girl with this strange talent, and we also learn about her personality and her views on life.
The year of the rat (also known as the Giula Ballar Children’s Book) is a very sad period in the life of this little girl, who loses all of her possessions when her family is abolished. Leo Brouwer’s charming illustrations help us to remember what it was like for poor children in the 1940’s during the time of World War II. This is a story that will touch the reader’s heart because we come to understand that even children can be affected by such a terrible event. We learn how priceless and unique was the book that Giulia Ballar wrote, and how this little book paved the way for future works by Leo Brouwer on Ihr Studium.
There is a lot of sadness in the book, especially at the ending, but there is also hope because in the last pages, we discover that not everything is lost, and that some treasures still remain. The last few pages of the book are written in a dreamlike style, almost like a philosophical treatise on how to live. We also see how Giulia and her family managed to survive the experience of “decadrileze.” The last few pages of the book are written in French, which is done in a lucid and precise way that will surely delight its contemporary readers. I recommend that this book is read by people with an excellent command of Italian, because reading Italian in translation is an entirely different experience from reading it in English. In conclusion, “I Digg It” is a very good novel that will not disappoint its contemporary readers.