/ 19 March 2002

Italian mouse journalist challenges Harry Potter

Stilton, a mouse who doubles as a journalist and amateur private eye, has sold more than 1,6-million copies in Italy since the first of his 34 adventures was published two years ago, his publisher Piemme said.

Stilton now finds himself just trailing behind J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter series, whose four Italian editions sold a total of 2,7-million copies.

Although he can’t claim Potter’s success of having his stories translated into more than 30 languages — including Latin and ancient Greek — or into a box office smash, Stilton has taken Italy by storm and is getting ready to sail abroad.

Publishing giant Bertelsmann has bought the German rights to the series, and Stilton is getting ready to descend upon Brazil, Belgium, France, Japan, Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, and Spain.

Might Stilton close in on the Potter phenomenon, which saw the four books selling over 100-million copies worldwide?

A cartoon set to be released in 2004 has caused a stir in Italy, but it would be hard-pressed to match the success of the film of the first Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which broke box-office records around the world.

”The fear of war, of death, of solitude, of growing up” – these are the many themes Stilton tackles in his adventures, Piemme representative Valeria Marietti said.

Children aged seven to 13 — who comprise the majority of Italy’s reading public — can’t seem to get enough of the curious mouse.

And like Potter, he appeals to adults as well, with his subtle satirical commentary of Italian society.

But he never goes too far and is ”very politically correct,” his publisher assures, noting that the young Stilton is a single non-smoker whose only sidekick is an unpredictable secretary who revels in the Internet and the newest technology gadgets, like so many Italian kids.

So who is behind the intelligent little rodent, who enjoys a game of golf as much as the next guy?

”He’s like Santa Claus — we don’t ask who’s really inside,” Marietti said.

No author’s name adorns the books, a tactic which Marietti plays to ”the magic of childhood.”

The only hint given about the series’ author is the name of Stilton’s ”godmother” Elisabeth Dami, head of Piemme’s children’s book division, Steamboat.

Stilton, who is Italian through-and-through despite his last name (taken from an English cheese), is riding high on a new interest in children’s literature.

He captured the moment perfectly with his Little Book of Peace, published after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. – Sapa-AFP