Geografia de Dona Benta Capa comum – 1 abril 2013
In 1935, when Geografia de Dona Benta was first published, Lobato and his gang from Sítio do Picapau Amarelo lived in a different world than the one we know today. The world population and the number of countries were smaller, the radio was the main vehicle of communication and the way of life was different. Even before man set foot on the moon, in 1969, Lobato had already taken Emília and company to observe the world from there and, from there, explore every bit of planet Earth. In the early 1930s, school themes became part of some of Monteiro Lobato's children's books. The author believed that it was possible to present the didactic contents in a pleasant way and in a way that was easy to understand. In his texts, he invested in the formation of critical readers and showed the reality of the facts. Dona Benta's geography is a good example of this. In this book, Lobato presents the states, countries, continents, inhabitants, customs and how people organize themselves in their territories, but also talks about the wars that took place, the dominating attitudes of the leaders of some nations and the disputes for power. This democratic way of writing for children had nothing to do with the line adopted by schools in the 1930s. At that time, school pedagogy did not encourage dialogue with children, it worked with the repetition of content. But Lobato argued that children's intelligence works best when guided by imagination and in Geografia de Dona Benta he takes Emília, Narizinho, Pedrinho, Visconde, Dona Benta, Tia Nastácia and Quindim aboard a make-believe ship. This imaginary ship and an equally imaginary superpowerful telescope are enough resources for the Sítio staff to explore the world and lead the reader on a fun journey, full of adventures and learning about the geography of our planet. In this new edition launched by Globinho, the author's original text was kept, undergoing spelling updates. The work also received additional comments written by geographers that explain and update the information provided by Lobato in 1935. The book also includes a set of maps so that the reader can locate the regions mentioned in the text and can perceive the changes in geographic space. By tracing an overview of the 1930s and the present day, the new edition of the work highlights the dynamism that the world has developed in less than a century. Countries are transformed, territories are divided, the population grows, trade intensifies, environmental concerns gain strength and the world, despite being huge, seems small in the face of the media's ability to connect and bring people together. Lobato's relaxed and informative narrative, which takes the reader to know real facts of the world in a playful and charming way, is illustrated by Roberto Fukue and Flavio Silva.
