Garoffi: Son of a pharmacist, he deals on toys and trading cards on the side whenever he can.Coraci: Dark-skinned boy from Calabria, in the south of Italy.Nelli: Hunchbacked and also bullied because of it.Crossi: A red-head with a paralyzed arm.Votini: Top contender to the top medal, at one point others make light of his envy of Derossi.He likes reading books though he doesn't own many of them. Stardi: Derossi's perennial medal challenger along with Votini.However, his father forces him to apologize to Betti when Carlo insults Betti and his coal miner father. Carlo Nobis: Haughty because his parents are rich.At one point his father stops beating him and studies enthusiastically enough to earn the runner-up medal in the class. Pietro Precossi: Son of a blacksmith who beats him.He protects his weak classmates Nelli and Crossi, and as the oldest boy in the class is the de facto enforcer. Despite his prowess, he is humble and not haughty. He is a natural learner who doesn't need to study much. Ernesto Derossi: The class' perennial champion, he wins the top medal in the class every month.Antonio Rabucco: Known as "the little stonemason" because of his father's job.Does not have much input on Enrico's diary, since he cannot talk down to him like the other family members do. Enrico and Silvia's unnamed younger brother who studies under Ms.
She also cares for him and his studies, once selflessly foregoing going out with girlfriends to take care of him while he was sick in bed. Silvia Bottini: Enrico's older sister.Average student who is keen to learn things and meet people in his classroom. Enrico Bottini: Narrator and main character.
These are called 'The Monthly Stories' and appear at the end of every school month.Ĭharacters Bottini family Every story revolves around a different moral value, the most prominent of which are helping those in need, having great love and respect for family and friends, and patriotism. As well as his teacher who assigns him with homework that deals with several different stories of children throughout the Italian states who should be seen as role models – these stories are then given in the book as Enrico comes upon reading them.
The entire chronological setting corresponds to the third-grade season of 1881-82 (Enrico says it has been four years since death of Victor Emmanuel II, king of Italy, and the succession by Umberto I, and also tells about the death of Giuseppe Garibaldi, which happened in 1882).Įnrico's parents and older sister Silvia interact with him as written in his diary. The novel is written in a diary form as told by Enrico Bottini, an 11-year-old primary school student in Turin with an upper class background who is surrounded by classmates of working class origin.