Timpa Goes to the Sea — Francesco Tullio Altan

"A veritable classic that every home must have on its bookshelves," said the influential Italian newspaper La Stampa about Altan's irresistible character, Timpa. "She is a friend to wile away the hours with. . . . She observes the world with interest, deep feeling, respect and wonder."

In this second book in the series, the inimitable Timpa stars in nine brilliant adventures set at the seaside. Timpa competes in an underwater race, swaps her spots for a shark's fin, and gives the fish's upside-down slippery-dip a try. Includes nine separate tales for young children featuring Altan's captivating full-color illustrations.

Altan is the winner of the 2005 Andersen-World of Childhood Award for "having created, thirty years ago, a character who is fresher and more vibrant today than ever before, who remains poetic and bright, bewitching and limpid, simple and yet complex, rich, like childhood itself."