The Bears' Famous Invasion Of Sicily

So many years have gone by! So many years that no one remembers the evil duke who once lived in Cormorant Castle or how the bears came down from Sicily's mountains to defeat him. No one even remembers that Sicily once had mountains. First published in 1947, Dino Buzzati's sprightly fairy tale chronicles this forgotten history - the terrible winter that sent the starving bears down into the valley in search of food, as well as their struggles with an army of wild boars, wily professors who may or may not be magicians, the snarling Marmoset the Cat, and, worse still, suggestions of treachery within their own ranks. Despite the odds, the bears - from valiant King Leander to his little cub Tony, from the mechanically-minded Marzipan to observant Dandelion - triumph with bravery, ingenuity, humility, and high spirits.


Genre: Children's Fiction

"The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily is one of the noblest books I know. At once a tragic inquiry and a philosophical history, the novel examines ambition, violence, and revenge in the voice of an adult explaining things to children--a voice that is simultaneously wise, wry, and wrong. Little wonder that it is not only my favorite book, but Lemony Snicket's as well." - Daniel Handler