Carolyn Edwards
Loris Malaguzzi inspecting one of
the diaries, 1983.

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this as a part of Quaderni Reggiani, a series of publications intended to speak openly to
the city about the new services for children under three years old that the public admin-
istration was offering. Other booklets in the Quaderni Reggiani series addressed such
topics as play, naps and sleep, and use of puppets at the infant-toddler centers.

Loris Malaguzzi, founder and director of the Reggio Emilia system of public pre-
schools and infant-toddler centers, received Lella Gandini and me in 1983 and gave us
a tour of several preschool centers and of an exhibit, later
to be called “The Hundred Languages of Children” (Reggio
Children 1996). In the afternoon we visited Arcobaleno,
and our photos show Ivetta Fornaciari and another teacher
working during the children’s naptime on the diaries that
would soon be given to the graduating families as parting
gifts. This same photo reveals Loris Malaguzzi inspecting
a diary with a curly-haired toddler who had awoken early
from his nap. It reveals not only Loris’s consummate ease
and delight with children but also his intense absorption
in all of the small details of the daily life in the centers. At
the time, I was a young parent of two small children and
beginning my early childhood education career, and I was
enchanted and intrigued by what I saw at Arcobaleno.

By the time I rediscovered Laura’s diary more than twenty years later, however, I
was able to bring much more depth of experience and knowledge to its appreciation and
interpretation. Silvia Betta, a doctoral student in bilingual education at the University
of Nebraska, has translated Laura’s diary and the other Italian pieces of this volume into
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