Diary of Jane Burrasca: The Walkman Files

She wanted a smartphone.
She got a vintage Walkman.
Now begins the most chaotic diary ever recorded.

Giovanna is about to turn ten and she only wants one thing: her first smartphone. She’s convinced that this small device is her official passport into the world of “grown-ups.” But when she opens her long-awaited present, she finds… a Walkman. With huge buttons. And gigantic headphones. A true archaeological relic straight from the 1980s.
The disappointment is devastating. How is she supposed to survive at school without a smartphone? How can she avoid being the only one excluded from the digital age?
Once she’s all cried out, Giovanna — nicknamed Jane Burrasca due to her natural talent for causing trouble — decides to turn that vintage device into something useful: a voice-recorded diary.
She starts recording everything that happens to her: school disasters, misunderstandings with adults, shifting friendships, everyday injustices, epic embarrassments. Each recording becomes a secret space where Jane can be completely herself.
With irony, energy, and a surprisingly sharp view of the adult world, Jane captures the struggle and excitement of being ten — that suspended age when you’re no longer little, but not yet grown up.
And in the end, perhaps that Walkman wasn’t the wrong gift after all. Perhaps it was the beginning of something far more important.

A story by Book on a Tree