★A fiction story about a very current and touching topic: happiness and its forms.
★To explore happiness through a simple and adventurous story with the major italian philosophy populizer, known for his capability of speaking to kids.
★An original and appealing approach to the great philosophers of Ancient Greece.
A modern narrative rhythm and a story that mixes present with past.
★8+, English sample available.

The story starts with the everyday routine of three 10 years old children: Anna living with the widowed father, Jamala living with her mother and four siblings while the father is in Syria experiencing the war, and Misha living with his two hard-worker parents and a brother on a wheelchair. It’s Friday morning and they have to rush to school because their teacher, Mr. Paolo, has planned a special philosophy class.

Once arrived, all students sit in circle and Mr. Paolo asks them to draw what is happiness for them. Some students immediately fill the blank space with illustrations and colours, some others are stuck and cannot think of anything to draw, and others are so lost that keep on erasing what they have done. One hour later, Mr. Paolo invites them to share with the class what they have drawn and why. Students express different opinions and thoughts, and the teacher tells them that being a philosopher means to ask many questions and be curious.
Since the class seems really involved into the subject, Mr. Paolo decides to take them on a trip the following Monday.

Everyday for 5 days, children will have the opportunity to dialogue with one of them about what happiness is and what it means.

On Monday children are all excited for the trip (except for Jamala, who really struggled with the topic of happiness) and they all believe they are going to a park. However, little they know that waiting for them there is Diotima, Mr. Paolo’s friend, and her Sofia Express bus. The class discover that the bus is special, it doesn’t work with gas but with questions and curiosity. Each student fill the tank with the question they have and, once the tanks is full, they are ready to go.

Magic happens and they find themselves in Athens during the ancient Greek times. In fact, thanks to the precious directions of Diotima, Mr. Paolo and the class meet the best ancient philosophers and have the chance to discuss with them the topic of happiness and many other huge questions about life, death and soul. They meet Protagoras who teaches them about rhetoric and oratory; Hypatia the woman philosopher who tells them about inequality, courage and to not let fright and others’ opinion stop your own path; Epicurus and the importance of nourishing the soul and happiness; Socrates and the “know thyself” concept; finally, the greatest philosopher ever: Plato.

When the trip is over, the class get on the Sofia Express bus and come back home.

All the students are happy and excited about what they have seen and heard.

Anna, Jamala and Misha are happy with the answers they have received, and their attitude seems changed or, at least, their minds have been changed and influenced by the fantastic time passed discussing on philosophy and big questions.

MATTEO SAUDINO was born in Turin, where he teaches Philosophy and History. He is well known between young people since he communicates through his YouTube channel BarbaSophia where he talks about history and philosophy in an accessible way. He has more than 260.000 subscribers on YouTube.