Tonino
The Adventures of a Boy/Cricket from Boston’s North End
by
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John G. Stoffolano Jr. is an entomologist. His previous publications include over 150 scientific research articles, ten chapters for various books, and a laboratory manual for beginning entomologists. Stoffolano currently teaches a course at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in cultural entomology. Dr. Stoffolano graduated from high school in 1957, received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Oneonta (1962), did his M.S. at Cornell University (1967) in entomology and received his Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut (1970). After completing his Ph. D. he took a position at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in the Department of Entomology. One year later he took a leave of absence and did a postdoctoral year at Princeton (1971) where he worked with the distinguished, and National Academy of Science biologist and writer, Dr. V. G. Dethier. Professor Dethier moved to Amherst and became the first director of the neuroscience program. Dethier published and won many awards for his nature books. The one related to Stoffolano’s book is “Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos.” In 1993 entomologist Vincent Dethier won the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing for his book. It was this contact that convinced Stoffolano to focus more on his research into the physiology and behavior of flies and also to focus on more popular writings. Following his year at Princeton, Stoffolano returned to the University of Massachusetts where he has been since. Professor Stoffolano is still doing research and teaching. He has spent sabbatical years doing fly research in London, Siena (Italy), New Zealand, and last spring (2010) he and his wife Susan spent his sabbatical semester in an around the world trip that took them to 5 different countries where he lectured and did research. In South Africa he did research on the tsetse fly that vectors the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness. He has published over 100 research papers and authored a well known textbook on entomology. This global, sabbatical trip was extremely important for Dr. Stoffolano. It helped him forge his ideas and philosophy about cultural diversity. In fact, he believes that cultural diversity is just as important as biological diversity. He believes that to teach a diversity course, faculty should have considerable experience living with or visiting diverse cultures. In addition to this trip, his previous world travels have greatly influenced developing his new course in Cultural Entomology. It was during his stay in Italy that he began to think more about his Italian roots and growing up on the West End of Gloversville, which was considered home for many Italian immigrant families that came to Gloversville to work in the leather industry. Professor Stoffolano is not the only famous entomologist working on flies to grow up in Gloversville. Dr. C. P. Alexander described more than 10,000 species of crane flies and became world famous for his work on this group of flies. Stoffolano only knew Doc Alex, as he was called, only in his later years where he was professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, also from the same department. “I did not know him prior to joining the faculty at UMass. Stoffolano was recently asked why he wrote a book about a cricket and not a fly. His response was, “Culturally, crickets have played very diverse and more important roles in both indigenous and modern cultures than flies have. Flies have usually been considered a nuisance and everyone wants to kill them.”
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About the Book
Tonino is a young, curious cricket boy, living with his family in Boston. Life is good for young Tonino, but he suspects there’s more to the world than his own backyard. He wants to learn about foreign cultures, but mostly he wants to learn about his own family roots. He heads to Italy, where he is surprised to meet the famous Blue Fairy, who was friends with Tonino’s ancestor—the cricket guide to Pinocchio. Whereas Tonino’s ancestor was put in charge of young Pinocchio’s conscience, Tonino is given a much more universal conscience. He is charged with the conscience of the world and the well-being of its environment, a big change to his personal journey. No longer is he looking after the story of his family; now he looks after the story of Mother Earth! Suddenly, he is transported on a worldwide adventure … He heads to Puerto Rico and meets the Taίno people. He visits a monarch in Mexico and cricket warriors in China. In the American Southwest, he learns about the spirit of the cricket “katsina”; in Hawaii, he encounters Pele’s rage. It’s a lot to take in for the young cricket boy, but ultimately he discovers that seeking his roots is only the beginning in the wide world of biodiversity, cultural diversity, and conservation of both. The boy/cricket is baptized Anthony at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. His parents live in the North End where his mother kept hearing the television advertisement “Anthony, Anthony, It’s Prince Spaghetti Day” so they named him Anthony. “Naming him Anthony was straight forward, but naming him Tonino was at the brilliant suggestion of Dr. William Cooley, retired Northampton Ophthalmologist and avid italophile. Dr. Cooley sent Dr. Stoffolano a short novel by an Italian author named Rodari about a young boy, Tonino, who tries to become invisible so that he could avoid problems with his teacher. Rodari (1920–1980) was one of Italy’s best-known writers of children’s books and the recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for children’s literature.” Thus, the name and his ability to become invisible are incorporated into the story. In addition to this reference to his nickname, Tonino is a small cricket because he always ate Italian food in the North End and not cricket food. Thus, he also got the name Tonino, which means little Anthony in Italian from Joe Pace who owns and started Joe Pace & Sons Italian Specialities in Boston’s North End. In his novel, Stoffolano establishes the first lineage for this famous cricket family. Tonino’s great, great, great grandfather was Grillo parlante, the talking cricket in the original story Pinocchio. Grillo was also the conscience of Pinocchio and Grillo’s great grandson was the famous Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney’s classic movie Pinocchio. In this wonderful story about Tonino, the reader sees many different regions of the world through the eyes of this boy/cricket where, through the experiences of Tonino, the reader will learn more about how crickets played various and important roles in different indigenous cultures. Tonino’s charge by the Blue Fairy was to become the conscience of the world when it comes to environmental issues: A heavy responsibility or a small boy/cricket. The importance of cultural diversity, just as important as biodiversity, is stressed and Tonino takes on Dr. E. O. Wilson, one of the greatest thinkers/writers of our generation, as his mentor.
About the Author
John G. Stoffolano Jr. is an entomologist. His previous publications include over 150 scientific research articles, ten chapters for various books, and a laboratory manual for beginning entomologists. Stoffolano currently teaches a course at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in cultural entomology. Dr. Stoffolano graduated from high school in 1957, received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Oneonta (1962), did his M.S. at Cornell University (1967) in entomology and received his Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut (1970). After completing his Ph. D. he took a position at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in the Department of Entomology. One year later he took a leave of absence and did a postdoctoral year at Princeton (1971) where he worked with the distinguished, and National Academy of Science biologist and writer, Dr. V. G. Dethier. Professor Dethier moved to Amherst and became the first director of the neuroscience program. Dethier published and won many awards for his nature books. The one related to Stoffolano’s book is “Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos.” In 1993 entomologist Vincent Dethier won the John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing for his book. It was this contact that convinced Stoffolano to focus more on his research into the physiology and behavior of flies and also to focus on more popular writings. Following his year at Princeton, Stoffolano returned to the University of Massachusetts where he has been since. Professor Stoffolano is still doing research and teaching. He has spent sabbatical years doing fly research in London, Siena (Italy), New Zealand, and last spring (2010) he and his wife Susan spent his sabbatical semester in an around the world trip that took them to 5 different countries where he lectured and did research. In South Africa he did research on the tsetse fly that vectors the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness. He has published over 100 research papers and authored a well known textbook on entomology. This global, sabbatical trip was extremely important for Dr. Stoffolano. It helped him forge his ideas and philosophy about cultural diversity. In fact, he believes that cultural diversity is just as important as biological diversity. He believes that to teach a diversity course, faculty should have considerable experience living with or visiting diverse cultures. In addition to this trip, his previous world travels have greatly influenced developing his new course in Cultural Entomology. It was during his stay in Italy that he began to think more about his Italian roots and growing up on the West End of Gloversville, which was considered home for many Italian immigrant families that came to Gloversville to work in the leather industry. Professor Stoffolano is not the only famous entomologist working on flies to grow up in Gloversville. Dr. C. P. Alexander described more than 10,000 species of crane flies and became world famous for his work on this group of flies. Stoffolano only knew Doc Alex, as he was called, only in his later years where he was professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, also from the same department. “I did not know him prior to joining the faculty at UMass. Stoffolano was recently asked why he wrote a book about a cricket and not a fly. His response was, “Culturally, crickets have played very diverse and more important roles in both indigenous and modern cultures than flies have. Flies have usually been considered a nuisance and everyone wants to kill them.”