The Misadventures of Pinocchio is a libretto. This work breathes pleasure, invokes a sense of such radical fun - from Italian politics to animal rights - as to beg the issue of an opera, for which it was written. Also included in this work is a brilliant Afterword by the author.Writes author Michael Tobias: "What I will tell you is that Pinocchio's 'Adventures' in this Libretto have been re-examined in light of Tuscany's history, and the current state of the world. Such that, without giving away too much, I would add that I have sought to give Collodi's Pinocchio his own dignity, his roots, to take him back to the original landscape where he was born, both as an ideal, but also as a reality in a world where trees, let alone pine nuts, are disappearing rapidly. ..."Pinocchio is one of those charter members, a veritable signatory to a Declaration of Biological Rights; not only of the plant community in his native land, but of humanity's future place in a world at risk, where common sense, imagination, an unstinting love of life, not to mention a sense of humor are worth their weight - not in gold - but in old forest, healthy soils, rich biomass, a dazzling, unchallenged array of plant and animal life, clean air and plenty of fresh water to drink. These are, after all, the real concerns of any pine nut, let alone the Pinocchio kind. ...