“Karamellu tar-Raħal t’Isfel – l-Ewwel Ktieb” is a collection of ten stories in Maltese, accompanied by specifically designed colourful visuals, about childhood in a Maltese village at a time still without the arrival of television, computer, internet and mobile.
Karamellu represents a boy born and brought up in a worker’s family that used to live in the part of the village of Żejtun which is known as Ir-Raħal t’Isfel.
The author of the stories is this boy: the writer Carmel Charles Buttigieg who in the book signs as In-Nannu Karm.
The book was launched on October 26, 2021, at the Żejtun Primary School, the school which the author used to go to when he was still young, with the gentle permission and cooperation of the Heads of the two sections of the school, Mr Saviour Sammut (Primary School A) and Mr Edmond Pace (Primary School B).
Also present where Ms Maria Dolores Abela, the Mayor of Żejtun, and Mr David Muscat, Chief Executive Officer of the National Literacy Agency.
The 100-page book is being published with the cooperation of the National Literacy Agency.
Some of the Karamellu stories were inspired by true experiences of the author. Other stories introduce the reader to how certain people and characters in the life of the author, as a small boy, used to live and behave.
In general, the narratives offer an idea of the life pattern of children and their families many years ago, together with their way of life in a calm and serene environment where everybody used to know everybody and where there was no shortage of exciting moments or happenings (praspar).
The main aim of the Karamellu stories is to offer new generations easy to read and pleasing anecdotes that would help them get to know and understand better the kind of village culture and environment children of years gone by were brought up in. At the same time, the stories also offer some nostalgic reading to elders, especially those who like to read and recount narratives to children about the time when they themselves were still very young.
The idea to start compiling the Karamellu stories in books is rooted in the impressive support the stories received when they started to be posted on Facebook at the time of the Covid 19 lockdown, with many readers soliciting the publication of the stories in book form.
Facebook has seen 64 Karamellu stories to date.
The designers and setters of the book are CN Creative Designs.
Author, Carmel Charles Buttigieg, during the launching of the book.
