Few readers know that just weeks after he completed The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi began publishing the chapters of a sequel, Pipì, o lo scimmiottino color di rosa. This new story, Peepee, the Tiny Pink Monkey, is a counter-story about a precocious monkey who, unlike Pinocchio, has no desire to become a proper young man but reluctantly learns how to behave like one. After a series of escapades, he learns from none other than the young man who used to be a wooden puppet.

This bilingual edition of the story marks the first time that it appears in a complete and accurate English translation. Based on the first serialized instalments, published in the Giornale per i Bambini between 1883 and 1885, this new edition recreates the experience of the story’s first young readers, who often had to wait months for the next chapter to appear. Carmine Di Biase, who has edited and translated the story, has also provided an afterword in which he examines the relationship between Pipì and Pinocchio, showing how the two stories, when read together, illuminate each other. Barbara Cantalino, an Italian artist with a special love of books for young readers, has created fifteen illustrations especially for this edition.