The Dormouse who just Wanted to Sleep

A witch who hates music casts a spell to silence the world. But the world sings back.​

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A witch cannot stand music. She loves crashing sounds, roaring anger, the singing of war, but hates violins, love songs and gentle melodies. With one wicked spell, she wipes out every note on earth: no more concerts, no more theatres, no more music anywhere.​

Almost. Inside a wardrobe, a tiny moth is whistling, so softly the witch barely notices. Then a cricket joins in. Then another. Soon, fifty of them are singing together: a whole choir. Frogs and toads rise from the ditch. Rain falls, soft and steady. Flowers breathe in the meadow. Wherever the witch turns, the world keeps breathing, keeps singing.​

A little spider finally says it plainly: music is life, and life cannot be silenced. It is everywhere.​

A joyful, rhythmic tale that turns the smallest voices into an unstoppable choir, celebrating nature, freedom, and the gentle strength of every living thing.​

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Key highlights: 

◊ Predictable and repetitive structure: built on a reassuring, highly repetitive pattern: every time Ghiro gets bumped, he grumbles, falls right back asleep, and snores “ronf ronf” (snore snore). This rhythm builds anticipation and delights young listeners.

​◊ A bedtime story with a twist: combines a cozy hibernation theme with a hilarious, upside-down fairy-tale setup, delightfully subverting classic tropes.

​◊ Rich in humour: a fun sequence of accidental bumps, mistaken kisses, and grumbling wake-ups that keeps young readers laughing and engaged.

Author & Illustrator

SILVIA RONCAGLIA​

One of Italy’s most prolific voices in children’s literature and theatre, with around a hundred titles to her name and several major awards. Her work has travelled well beyond Italy, translated and published around the world.​

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ELEONORA DE PIERI​

Books and pencils have always gone hand in hand for her. She trained at the Pietro Selvatico Art Institute in Padua, then sharpened her craft through illustration workshops in Sarmede, Macerata and Venice. What she loves most is writing and illustrating her own stories, now published both in Italy and abroad.​