Abstract
Abstract: This article examines a selection of Italian picturebooks that feature representations of diversity, including Piccolo Blu e Piccolo Giallo (Lionni), as well as more contemporary works such as Piccolo Uovo: Maschio o Femmina? (Pardi and Altan) and Qual è il Segreto di Papà? (Pardi and Gucciardini). These titles form part of a corpus of texts focused on diversity, many of which are produced by the publishing houses Lo Stampatello and Settenove. This branch of Italian children’s literature has often come under public scrutiny for its content around themes of diversity, thereby intersecting with and contributing to contested ideas about national identity, belonging, and Otherness. Although their narrative and aesthetic representations may contain certain limitations in the degree to which they depict diversity, the examples discussed in this article provide alternative ways of thinking about nationality, family, gender, and sexuality in an era in which conservative ideologies around these topics are prevalent in contemporary Italian cultural discourse.