Olimpia and the hedgehog Fritz are back, the characters imagined by Elfriede Gaeng and designed by Carolina Calabresi. If in the first story, released in 2024 by Carabba and much appreciated by young readers, the author successfully addressed the delicate topic of bullying, in this second adventure diversity and discrimination are the background. This time Olimpia and Fritz decide to explore the magnificent Renaissance Villa located between the Italian garden and the labyrinth. From Bernardo and Gottardo, the two box bears, they learn that Arlo, Nikolaus’ son, lives there with his wife Margherita and two children, Astro and Stella. The four sparrows and Red, the squirrel, add more information. There is a spell taking place inside the Villa. The Gray Elf, Dark’s advisor, who in exchange for a sumptuous lunch a week protects Arlo’s family from the black elves, has stopped time. Gullit, the son of the fairy Smeraldina, a nice, intelligent, but very touchy elf, is involuntarily the cause… Between thefts, spells, magic mirrors, succulent sweets, prodigious chocolate, clashes of all kinds and wise wizards, anything will happen. But Queen Amber will make the difference. And the decision of the Gray Elf, different from all the other elves but precisely for this reason able to understand the reasons of both. Olimpia and Fritz, proclaimed heroes of the forest, will understand how important it is to choose in life and how diversity is a value and must be accepted as such.
Elfride Gaeng, director and screenwriter for cinema and TV fiction, has written several novels and collections of short stories and made her debut in children’s fiction with «The Adventures of Olympia and the Hedgehog Fritz».
