The third book in the Karamellu tar-Raħal t’Isfel series has now been launched. The book includes 10 new stories complemented by specifically designed colourful illustrations.
Karamellu represents a boy born in the 1940s, brought up in a family that used to live in an area of Żejtun where close to each other one used to find various shops from which people used to obtain their day-to-day needs, as well as a barber, a tinsmith and others.
As was the case in the stories of the first two books about Karamellu, the stories in the third book find their roots in true events or in the experience and practice of people the author, Charles Buttigieg, who spent his childhood in the Raħal t’Isfel of Żejtun.
In the first story we see Karamellu making friends with a girl he met at the sea side, while their grandfathers were fishing. We then meet a priest who, with the help of Karamellu, shows children and adults alike how wonderful it is to take care of creation, and how even sparrows have their value in the eyes of the Creator.
The stories also lead the reader to get to know two men Karamellu was familiar with. They are Grezzju tal-Kantina u Anġlu l-Barbier. Grezzju was Karamellu’s main source of learning about old Maltese almost-lost words. About Anġlu, one discovers some of the tactics this barber used to adopt in dealing with some cheeky person, and the origins of the Maltese expression, nofs leħja.
The book also offers a particular surprise. A folk singer (għannej) who used to live in the same street of Karamellu, composes and dedicates a new song to him. Another story is about an adventure Karamellu and his father had during a visit to Gozo, while a further account concentrates on certain secrets linked to the much-loved robin bird.
The basic aim of the Karamellu stories is to offer the new generations of today and tomorrow easy to read and pleasing anecdotes about the kind of village culture and environment children of years gone by were brought up in. The stories also offer some nostalgic reading to elders, especially those who like to recount stories to children about the time when they themselves were still very young.
The book is designed and set by CN Creative Designs.
