A dodo is never alone... because it has so many friends!

The Dodo, as we know, is extinct. But not in Grandville, where there is a deep sense of friendship and mutual help between the citizens and where there’s still room for animals that no longer exist these days, just like the Dodo.

Their mission? To have fun and save nature!

John has many friends among the Grandville youngsters (his two best friends are Felix Lion and Zita Platypus) and he shares his big house with Daddy Dodo and thirteen uncles and aunts with the most outlandish professions. Each of them has at least a couple of rooms in the immense (and partly falling down, partly unexplored) Villa Dodo, where they all live together. The house has belonged to the Dodo family for generations. And it is itself a driving force for adventures.

• The John Dodo stories combine ordinary everyday life with surreal ideas. They are sometimes adventurous in the classical sense (treasure maps), sometimes visionary (a Viking invasion in search of a mysterious toaster), romantic, sporty (the Dodo Ball world championships), sci-fi in style (a space mission to capture a comet), focused on personal growth or helping people in need, scary (when after a ball game Dodo rolls the ball into the old sewer system), investigative, spy-themed, historical, or centred on exploration.

• Stories free from stereotypes, respectful of cultures, religions, gender and identity, even in the absence of rigid models of reference.

• When everything seems concluded, the ending of the story always reveals something UNEXPECTED (the stories don’t end with a return to normality – quite the opposite).

• Extremely funny both in the main text writing style and in the humorous comments alongside the main text, left by the protagonists, as if they’d read the book first. Perfect for the first readers.

JOHN DODO & THE FAMILY TREASURE

What is an ancient sailing ship doing in the basement of Villa Dodo? To find out, John drags his friends on an amazing treasure hunt up and down the city of Grandville... But collecting the clues isn't easy, especially with a dad and thirteen uncles, each more bizarre than the last!

JOHN DODO & THE ENIGMA FROM THE PAST

The whole of Grandville is in turmoil: strange objects from the past are popping up everywhere! The only one who might know anything about it is Aunt Caterina Catta, the family scientist. Too bad she vanished into thin air! Will John and his friends be able to solve the mystery and bring her home?

JOHN DODO & THE SWORD OF STORMS

John and his friends can't believe their eyes: they found a sword in a stone! Since they pulled it out, however, a violent storm has hit Grandville. Could it be their fault? To find out, they'll have to investigate old legends...

JOHN DODO & THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY

A mysterious message in a bottle triggers a treasure hunt on the other side of the world. John and his friends leave for an unknown land to discover clues. But they'll have to be careful: an unscrupulous enemy is willing to do anything to hinder them!