📚 Story Time with the Authors — Sun 2 Aug, New Farm! Places filling fast. RSVP now →
Bilingual Italian · English Picture Books

Stories that grow
with your family

Storie da leggere insieme.

Beautiful bilingual picture books for little ones aged 2–8, written by a Brisbane Italian-Australian family who believe every child deserves to hear stories in both their languages.

Explore Our Books → Our Story
Ages
2–8
Rio Pinguino Il Grande Bundle — all three books
🇮🇹 Full Italian text on every page
🇦🇺 Full English text on every page
The Rio Pinguino Series

Meet Rio and the family

Follow Rio Pinguino through warm, funny, everyday adventures — in Italian and English, together on every page.

Rio Pinguino Buckles Up!
Picture Book

Rio Pinguino: Buckles Up!

Allaccia la cintura!

$17.00 AUD
Buy Now
Rio Pinguino My Brother is Hangry!
Picture Book

Rio Pinguino: My Brother is Hangry!

Mio fratello non ha ancora mangiato!

$17.00 AUD
Buy Now
Rio Pinguino Colour and Play Activity Book
Activity Book

Rio Pinguino: Colour & Play!

Colora e Gioca!

$13.00 AUD
Buy Now
Real families · Real reads

Stories that get read again and again

Toddler reading Rio Pinguino My Brother is Hangry Child at bilingual bookshelf with Rio Pinguino Girl reading Rio Pinguino Buckles Up
Bundle & Save

The perfect bilingual gift

Our bundles are the most popular way to give — and the best value. Perfect for grandparents, new families, and Italian language learners.

🇦🇺 Bundles available via our Shopify store — Australia only.

Il Grande Bundle
$45
Both picture books + Activity Book. Free delivery included.
Best Value Buy Il Grande — $45 →
Il Piccolo Bundle
$32
Both picture books together. Perfect starter set.
Popular Buy Il Piccolo — $32 →
eBooks
📱 My Brother is Hangry! eBook is now live via Apple Books, Kobo, OverDrive & more.
⏳ Buckles Up! eBook coming soon.
Rob, Elisa and family — Sogni d'Oro Press

"Every child deserves to grow up with both their languages."

Rob & Elisa
Our Story

Una famiglia, due lingue.

We're Rob (from Australia) and Elisa (from Italy), raising our kids between two languages. Rob has always loved creative writing, and together we wanted to create bilingual stories that felt sweet, funny, and genuinely enjoyable to read — not just for kids, but for parents too.

That's how Sogni d'Oro Press began. Every book is a little piece of our family life on the page — the chaos, the laughter, the Saturday pancakes, the bedtime negotiations.

Sogni d'Oro means "golden dreams" in Italian — what we wish for every child at bedtime.

Rob Chalmers Author, Brisbane
Elisa Pascale Translator & Editor
Resources

More from Sogni d'Oro

A growing collection of resources to help families, readers and little ones get the most out of the Rio Pinguino series.

🔊

Pronunciation Guide

Not sure how to say it? We're putting together an audio guide to the Italian words across both books — so every family can read aloud with confidence.

Coming soon
📖

Reading Together

Tips and ideas for making the most of bilingual storytime — whether Italian is your first language, second, or somewhere in between.

Coming soon
🎤

Readings & Storytimes

We love visiting libraries, schools and community events for bilingual storytime sessions. Get in touch if you'd like us to bring Rio to your community.

Say ciao
From the Press

Stories behind the stories

News, updates and a little behind-the-scenes from our bilingual family press.

📚
Upcoming · Sun 2 August 2026

Come meet us! Story Time with the Authors

Join Rob and Elisa in New Farm for a free bilingual story time with the Dante Alighieri Society and Famiglie Downunder. Places are filling fast.

RSVP now
🎙️
8 July 2026 · In the Media

We were on SBS Italia!

It started with a car trip — a seatbelt, a name, and a rhyme that stuck. We sat down with SBS Italia to share how Rio Pinguino and Sogni d'Oro Press came to be.

Read the story
🏆
2 June 2026 · Giveaway

Festa della Repubblica — and we have a winner!

A huge congratulations to @fedecosino for winning the complete Rio Pinguino bundle in our Festa della Repubblica giveaway. Grazie to everyone who entered — the support means the world to us. 🇮🇹🐧

See the announcement
🎪
7 March 2026 · Community

Carnivaliamo — our first market, and what a day

Our first ever market display was at Carnivaliamo and honestly, it was everything. So lovely to connect with so many wonderful families and to feel the warmth of the Italian-Australian community behind what we're building.

Follow @famiglie_downunder
💬
About Us · FAQ

Your questions answered — about us and our books

Who are Rob and Elisa? How did Sogni d'Oro Press start? Why bilingual? We answer the questions we get asked most often.

Coming soon
See all posts
Get in Touch

Ciao!

We'd love to hear from you — whether you're a family with a question, a library or school interested in a reading, or someone who just wants to say hello.

We also love visiting libraries, Italian community events, and schools for bilingual storytime sessions. If you'd like to have us come and read with your community, drop us a line.

✉️ ciao@sognidoropress.com

Follow along

We share behind-the-scenes moments, bilingual tips, new releases and a lot of penguin content over on Instagram and Facebook.