The Little Jesus of Sicily

Fortunato Pasqualino
Translated from the Italian by Louise Rozier
Artwork by Ken Stout

This work—in which the author describes the day when as a child he was chosen to be Jesus for the Feast of Saint Joseph—has been characterized as a poem in prose or as a basic canticle for celebrating life. The setting is pastoral Sicily shortly before World War II, and a child from a poor family has been entrusted to be the Messiah for one momentous day. A musical band and parade of dignitaries herald his arrival as he rides into the village on a she-ass. The priest presents him with the church key, supplicants ask him for favors and miracles as he presides over a great feast, and he wishes to heal his sick playmate Nico and bring the dead back to life. The little Jesus is transformed by this magnanimous experience, and he learns that the greatest miracle is volersi bene—to love one another.

In the tradition of Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince and Cervantes' Don Quixote, The Little Jesus of Sicily is an engaging, whimsical novella which works as a children's story as well as a thought-provoking adult fable. Imagination, poetry, and faith come together seamlessly as Pasqualino asks simple but fundamental questions of existence. His eloquent wisdom is matched by Rozier's deft and sensitive translation, winner of the 1996 Renato Poggioli Translation Award from the PEN American Center.

Beautifully illustrated with original drawings by University of Arkansas professor of art Ken Stout, this book tells a timeless tale that honors and celebrates the humanity of all people, regardless of age, time, place, or culture. It will be enjoyed, over and over again, by all readers.

Born in Butera, Italy, and living now in Rome, Fortunato Pasqualino is an important contemporary Italian writer. He has published fifteen books to date and has won several literary awards including Premeo Selezione Campiello (Venice, 1963) and La Madonnina (Milan, 1963).

Louise Rozier has been a French and Spanish language instructor and is currently instructor of Italian in the Foreign Language Department at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Born in Sedilo, Italy, she is a doctoral candidate at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont.

Ken Stout has exhibited his work extensively, at such places as the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City and the Cité des Arts in Paris. He won the Mid-America Arts Alliance Painting Fellowship in 1990 and is currently professor of art at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.