I missed it!

National Pinocchio Day is celebrated on February 23rd each year.  It marks the anniversary of the release of Disney's Pinocchio in 1940.  That's the year I was born, and I loved the story of Pinocchio!  I'll think about Pinocchio today, even if it is not officially his day.  Do you want some details?

Walt Disney's film was released in theaters on February 23, 1940 (thus the day to celebrate).  It's a story about a wooden puppet who comes to life.  In the story, Pinocchio accidentally kills a cricket, falls asleep on a stove, and is hanged by a cat and fox.  Pinocchio's willingness to provide for his father transforms him into a real boy.  The name Pinocchio comes from the Italian words pino (pine) and occhio (eye).

Let's go back a bit more into the past.  Pinocchio is a hero of the 1883 children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian author Carlo Collodi.  Pinocchio, an animated puppet, is punished for each lie that he tells by undergoing further growth of his nose.