Yellow Woodpecker Ranch

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The Yellow Woodpecker Ranch

The Yellow Woodpecker Ranch (Sítio do Picapau Amarelo) [1] is the setting for the children's books [2] [3] written by Brazilian writer Monteiro Lobato. It is a small farm with a pretty cottage, surrounded by trees and simultaneously close to several other subsettings: the river, the woods, and a small village nearby.

In the ranch lives an old widow, Dona Benta ("Mrs. Benta"), and her two grandchildren, a girl, Lúcia ("Lucy") that is always referred only by her nickname, Narizinho ("Little Nose", because she had the turned-up nose), and a boy, Pedrinho ("Pete"), the servant and cook, a black woman named Nastácia ("Anastacia"), and two talking puppets, the rag doll Emília ("Emily") (animated by some of Doctor Snail's "Talking Pills" she somehow "ingested") and the aristocratic and learned puppet made of corncob Visconde de Sabugosa ("Viscount Corncob") (sabugo means corncob in Portuguese). In the ranch lives also various animals, the fat pig Rabicó ("Short-Tail") the cow Mocha, the learned donkey Conselheiro ("Counsellor"), and the pacific rhinoceros Quindim ("Candy").

While in the ranch the children have a lot of adventures, with or without the participation of the old widow, get to know many strange creatures, like the noble fish Príncipe Escamado ("Scabby Prince"), the vain sardine Miss Sardine, the fretful cockroach Dona Carochinha ("Mrs. Carochinha") and the old snail Doutor Caramujo ("Doctor Snail"); and entities from the Brazilian folklore, like the witch alligator Cuca (an evil monster invoked by Brazilian mothers at night to convince their kids to go to bed), the Saci (an one-legged elf) [4], or Iara (some sort of river mermaid).

The Ranch was devised as an attempt to sum up all widespread characteristics of the Brazilian rural way-of-life of its time for educational purposes: Lobato intended to teach children to understand, to enjoy and to be proud of their cultural heritage and tried to do so by means of creating an entire millieu in which to set his children's stories so that they could all have a common Brazilian feel and background.

The major features of the Ranch were established by the book A Menina do Narizinho Arrebitado [5] ("The Girl With the Turned Up Nose"), in 1920. The quick success of the book, an unexpected but very welcomed surprise for the author, encouraged him to keep writing more on the series, until he eventually produced 23 books set in the Ranch. Lobato invested the revenue of his children's books in his publishing house, but these books are not be viewed as commercial venture: later in life Lobato admitted that he had joyfully given up writing for adults (from 1925 on) because he believed it to be much more pleasant and useful to teach children through his books.

1 Monteiro Lobato's children books
2 Characters
3 Yellow Woodpecker Ranch on TV
4 Episodes of TV
5 Songs
6 DVDs
7 External links

[edit] Monteiro Lobato's children books

Lobato's books have been translated to Spanish, but not yet into English. Here's the full list of his children books:

Reinações de Narizinho (Adventures of Little Nose). The same book mentioned above, but reedited, enlarged and renamed. Presents all major characters .
Viagem ao Céu (Voyage to the Sky). Pete befriends an invisible magic being (nicknamed: Feather, because he must wear a feather in his cap so that Pete can know where he is). This being travels throughout space and time using a magic powder (codename: Pirlimpimpim) and Pete finds himself in possession of some as Feather forgets (or intentionally leaves) his knapsack on Pete's bed. Using the powder, Pete and the others take a trip through the Solar System -- in which they learn a lot about the planets and meet several mythical beings.
O Saci (The Saci). Pete learns from an old man, Barnabé, how to attract and entrap a Saci with whom he eventually becomes friends .
Caçadas de Pedrinho (Pete's Hunting). Pete hunts down a jaguar and evades a siege of the Ranch by the other jaguars. In the meantime the real action is happening: a rhynoceros escapes from the circus and is found and hid by Emily. Pete is asked to help find him but is eventually beaten by the doll's great intelligence.
Aventuras de Hans Staden (The Adventures of Hans Staden). The tale of the XVI-Century German sailor who survived a shipwreck but was taken as hostage by the Tupinamba Indians for two years is told by Mrs. Benta to the Children in a fortnight of night meals.
História do Mundo Para Crianças (History of the World for Children). Lobato's best-seller of all time. History teachers loved this book because it indeed helped children learn history, at the cost of giving augmented importance to funny anecdotes. The language is superbly simple and colloquial, all terminology is either dropped or explained in advance. History is taught as a series of causos (folk stories) told by Mrs. Benta to the Children.
Memórias da Emília (Emily's Autobiography). Emily takes the corncob Viscount as a secretary and starts to write on his life . As she is still too young, she "adds" a lot to what happened, which makes every previous story seem different. In the meantime some English children come to Ranch to visit the Angel with the Broken Wing.
Emília no País da Gramática (Emily in the Grammar Country). The most original Grammar ever written! The children come to Grammar Country, where each language has a city and, guided by the bookworm rhynoceros, Candy, learn spelling, linguistics, the use of dictionaries, syntax, etc.
Aritmética da Emília (Emily's Math Book). Teaches the basics of Arithmetics and Algebra.
Geografia de Dona Benta (Mrs. Benta's Geography). The children are taken by Mrs. Benta in a world cruise on board the seaship "Terror dos Mares" (Terror of the Seas). Lobato spends a lot of energy to describe how the United States and Japan managed to become developed nations quite recently (with the hope that his readers, when adult, would implement the same policies in Brazil).
Serões de Dona Benta (Night Chatting With Mrs. Benta). Mrs. Benta helps Pete learn Phisics.
História das Invenções (Histories of Inventions). The children want to know "how things were invented" and Mrs. Benta teaches them. The interesting thing about this book is how it groups inventions according to the part of the body they supposedly "extend" and the vivid language that is used to tell the lives of famous inventors, like Santos-Dumont, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison and Guglielmo Marconi.
Histórias de Tia Nastácia (Aunt Anastacia's Tales). Anastacia tells Brazilian folk tales to the children.
O Picapau Amarelo (The Yellow Woodpecker Ranch). The characters of the fables move into the Ranch, causing a lot of humdrum.
A Reforma da Natureza (Reforming Nature). Emily and Viscount dabble into Genetics and Endochrinology and eventually make many monsters, like a giant flea, a giant legged earthworm, and some more. After all the humdrum, and taking advantage from Mrs. Benta's trip to a cousin's home, Emily implements his radical reformation views on the plants and animals found in the Ranch. When Mrs. Benta comes back things are beyond recognition. Hilarious, surrealistic, positively not only for children.
O Minotauro (The Minotaur). After the disappearance of Anastacia in "O Picapau Amarelo", everybody goes to the mythical Ancient Greece, where they expect to find her. After many adventures there, they come back with her.
A Chave do Tamanho (The Size Switch). Furious with the rampant war World War II Emily plans to go to the "House of Switches" in the end of the world and switch war off. However, she makes a mistake and switches off the size of humans, which causes all mankind to become two-inch tall. In the aftermath of the change, while the world leaders try to keep war going, common people try to organise themselves to survive against huge threats like rainfall, stray cats & dogs, closed doors, mice and roaches, etc. Despite the huge number of deaths (mostly of people who cannot adapt to change), Lobato depicts a world that is possibly happier little than it was "big".
Fábulas (Fables). Aesop's and La Fontaine's fables are told by Mrs. Benta and "commented on" by the children. No, this is not a boring book. The children, especially the talkative doll, Emily are pitiless in their critique of the fables, ranging from sardonic irony to "blearrgh". Yet they find many of the fables interesting.
Os Doze Trabalhos de Hércules (The Twelve Trials of Hercules). For the first time in all modern literatures, the famous 12 Trials of the famous Greek demi-god are told, in Lobato's peculiar style, with the participation of the children.
O Poço do Visconde (The Viscount's Well). Viscount, Emily and the children go in the search for petroleum in the Ranch.

Lobato's books are not yet in public domain. His copyright is due to expire in 2018.

[edit] Characters

Emília (Emily), the talking rag doll	Visconde de Sabugosa (Viscount Corncob), the learned puppet made of corncob	Rabicó (Short-Tail), the gluttonous Pig	Pedrinho (Pete), and Quindim (Candy), the pacific rhinoceros
Lúcia "Narizinho" (Lucy "Little Nose"), the girl with the turned up nose	Dona Benta (Mrs. Benta), the grandmother of Pete and Little Nose	Tia Nastácia (Aunt Anastácia), the cook of the Ranch

[edit] Yellow Woodpecker Ranch on TV

The children's tales were turned into widely popular TV programs, including five series of Sítio do Picapau Amarelo adventures, one in the 1950s [6], another two in the 1960s [7] [8], another in the 1970s [9], and the last in the 2000s [10] (the last one is still running on Rede Globo). Several generations of Brazilian children were hooked and educated by his marvelous stories, which seems never to lose currency.

[edit] Characters

Emília (Emily) - a talking rag doll.
Visconde de Sabugosa (Viscount Corncob) - a learned puppet made of corncob.
Patty Pop - a doll made of plastic, she is "sister" of Emily (but not in the Lobato's books).
Lúcia "Narizinho" (Lucy "Little Nose") - a girl with the turned up nose, she is cousin of Pete.
Pedrinho (Pete) - a courageous boy, he is cousin of Little Nose.
Dona Benta (Mrs. Benta) - she is the grandmother of Pete and Little Nose.
Tia Nastácia (Aunt Anastacia) - the cook of the Ranch.
Tio Barnabé (Uncle Barnabé) - an old black man.
Zé Carijó (Joe Carijó) - a servant of the Ranch (but not in the Lobato's books).
Rabicó (Short-Tail) - a gluttonous pig.
Conselheiro (Counsellor) - a learned donkey.
Quindim (Candy) - a pacific rhinoceros.
Antonica - she is wife of Nestor, mother of Pete, aunt of Little Nose and daughter of Mrs. Benta.
Nestor - he is husband of Antonica and father of Pete.
Coronel Teodorico (Coronel Teodor) - he is godfather of Mrs. Benta.
Elias - a covetable trader.
Iara - a mermaid of river.
Saci - a one-legged elf.
Cuca - a witch into alligator body.
Pesadelo (Nightmare) - he is the helper of Cuca (but not in the Lobato's books).
Miss Sardine - a sardine of river.
Príncipe Escamado (Scabby Prince) - a fish, he is the prince of river.
Doutor Caramujo (Doctor Snail) - a old snail, he is medic.
Dona Carochinha (Mrs. Carochinha) - a fretful cockroach.