CCBF will spotlight comics with the special exhibition Children Plus – COMICS: Exploring the World, One Bubble at a Time. The exhibition is divided into two sections: international and domestic. The international section is curated by an international team led by Grazia Gotti (Accademia Drosselmeier Coofounder, Author, Critic, Advisor), Mariaelena Schiavo (Special Projects Manager BCBF CCBF) and Marina Lepore(Secretariat and Coordination, Cooperativa Giannino Stoppani/Accademia Drosselmeier). The Chinese section is curated by Fei Jia, Senior Editor and Picture Book Researcher.
The exhibition will showcase around 300 international titles, celebrating comics as an art form and a learning tool. A dedicated panel will explore this theme in depth.
When we think of comics, we often associate them with lighthearted fun, playful drawings, and exciting adventures. But comics are much more than entertainment: they are a powerful language, capable of speaking to children and young readers in a way that is immediate, engaging, and profoundly educational.
Just like cinema and photography—once considered purely popular phenomena and later embraced as forms of Art—comics have gained recognition as a legitimate artistic and cultural expression. Often referred to as the ninth art, comics combine illustration, storytelling, and graphic design in a unique and expressive form of narration. Today, their cultural and educational value is widely recognized and celebrated. Their ability to tell stories through the combination of images, rhythm, and text makes them an extraordinary medium for learning. Today, educators, publishers, and illustrators all over the world are exploring the potential of comics in helping children discover, understand, and connect with the world around them.
Reading comics is a multidimensional experience. Children learn to interpret sequences of images, to grasp meaning without relying solely on words, and to intuitively understand narrative structures. Comics help shape visual literacy—a key skill in today’s image-saturated world—and promote concentration, comprehension, and storytelling skills from a very young age.
But that’s not all. Comics are also a playful gateway to language. Onomatopoeias, speech bubbles, and visual cues introduce children to sounds, words, and dialogues in multiple languages. How do you write the sound of a barking dog in English, in Chinese, or in Arabic? Through comics, children discover not just the diversity of language, but its musicality and expressive power.
More and more publishers are embracing comics as a tool for knowledge. Today’s comic books for young readers are tackling complex themes—emotions, history, science, nature, biographies of great women and men—making them accessible without simplifying them. Comics can teach and inspire, spark curiosity, and offer new perspectives on the world.
This exhibition celebrates comics as an art form and a learning tool. It invites children, families, and educators to rediscover the beauty and value of stories told in panels, to explore new languages and cultures, and to recognize comics as a bridge between imagination and knowledge.
Let’s open a comic book—and open a door to the world.
