“The little house in the snow” by nella vulcano

Once again Nella Vulcano surprises us with her tender fable entitled “La casetta nella neve” – “The little house in the snow”, lately released by “L’Erudita Publishing” (2021). The book has been presented in Rome by Patricia Mayorga (President of the World Association of Women Journalists and Writers – AMMPE), the author Nella Vulcano, Salvatore Conforti (teacher and founder of the project entitled “Philosophy for Children”) and the Chilean singer Maria Ester González.

The story centers on a friendship between a little girl, Alina, and an elderly woman, Ingrid. As usual, the Author Nella Vulcano, does not limits the narrative in the superficial aspects, but goes further, towards one of the most despicable episodes of the twentieth century: the Holocaust.

It is from this friendship that Nella Vulcano introduces us to the thorny question of “diversity”, which on some occasion may even scare us. Madness leads man to transcend to overcome all limits and eliminate those who seem more fragile.

This is how through a nightmare, or vague voice from the past, Alina finds out some sad hidden truths from the past, in which the fear of psychic or physical diversity leads to the extermination of a Nazi eugenics program: “Action T4” in which thousands of innocents perished. The lives of these people were considered «a life unworthy to be lived».

Alina then lights up a sad page in the history of Berlin, a history of harrowing screams of innocents that have been extinguished. Patients suffering from mental, physical or sensory pathologies, disabled, deaf or blind, who have did not meet the parameters of perfection. People deemed imperfect and defective who have ended up in the limbo of silence and indifference.

For the author, “the encounter between two generations, children and the elderly, generates a magical atmosphere full of warmth and love. A union of senses is created and like heat, which, passing from one body to another, generates energy, so the vitality of one and the wisdom of the other branch out”.

THE PRAISE OF CALM

«Children learn the praise of calm from the elderly, adds Nella Vulcano: «they savor the rhythm of tranquility, because the language of the elderly is transmitted to them through small gestures, sweet glances and tender caresses, but above all children learn unconditional love that makes us accept who we are: imperfect beings who can make mistakes».

According to Salvatore Conforti “in a world where stereotypes predominate, empowering students to develop an original, authentic and independent mindset, represents one of the greatest challenges of modern innovative education, usually spread from the research community known as “Philosophy for children”.

«In a game of oxymoron that run throughout the fairy tale», adds Salvatore, «the prevailing emotions of the reader, remain a profound value of contamination with an experience centered on

from one side on a mature and tragic experience, while from the other, into a fresh and emotional felling oriented to the comprehension of the life’s sense».

“This second fairy tale evolves within a natural connection to to the first one I wrote entitled “Le magiche piume” (“The magical feathers”), in which the protagonist Alina, thanks to a special feather, is catapulted into a distant world to help a group of children locked up in a terrible prison, the Colonia Dignidad” adds the author.

According to the author, the two stories, both also aimed at younger target, touch important historical events with the common mission: “not to forget”. In the same time the stories aim in cultivating fundamental values such as the friendship, loyalty, love and above all the strength to influence changes, concludes the writer.