Expo 2020 Dubai has published a collection of short stories for children that celebrate multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion during the Christmas holidays. Children’s tales from around the world represent a collective project that reunites talented narrators and artists of all ages, coming from all sides of the world, reflecting the spirit and effort of Expo 2020 Dubai in “connecting minds, creating the future”.

The collection consists of more than 60 traditional stories from the participating countries, that let us dive deep into a fascinating panorama of narrative cultures coming from six different continents. The collection has been written in english and its aim consists in stimulating the imagination of both children and adults, helping them to
discover what makes us different, the values that we all shares, independently of the corner of the world we come from.

Children’s tales from around the world is also a concrete help for the younger readers aged 5-12 years old, who are both learning how to read, and are reading in order to learn. Thanks to unique illustrations from all over the world -passed down from times past and created by local artists-, puns, numerical quizzes, and teachings to be treasured, this collection of short stories represents an accessible and fun tool to appreciate one’s own cultural heritage, other people’s, and develop a passion for reading.

Even San Marino has contributed to Children’s tales from around the world with “Marino e l’Orso”, -the exicting tale of our patron saint Marino taming a bear- written by two sammarinese; Gian Luigi Berti who wrote the plot, and Dara Giardi who hand- drew the illustrations. The story -covered in the third volume and translated in english by Emily Ligniti- deals with the legend of Marino’s life on top of the mountain along with his beloved donkey. One day, straying away from the path to drink and eat berries, he unexpectedly finds his animal eaten by a bear. By caressing the animal, Marino invites it to take the place of the poor donkey that he would then bury. The previously violent bear became tamed and ate the saint’s berries.

This tale, rich in terminology and linguistic expressions, aims to show young readers english vocabulary on nature while the moral of the story is that life in harmony with animals is possible and that some battles can be won peacefully rather than through violence. Thus Marino was right in acting peacefully towards the bear
whom he manages to calm. tame and befriend.

The Pavilion director Letizia Cardelli commented: “We are very proud and happy to have taken part in this educational Expo initiative. For a small state like San Marino, to take part in this short stories collection from all over the world -coming to its third edition and published both in paperback edition all over Expo and digital version on Apple is a meaningful and relevant event that enables us to let our cultural heritage be
known to an international audience. Once again, althrough small, we want to make ourselves known and be talked about.