Book Nook - Leo Lionni

Over the next few weeks I plan to share books with Bug, Fairy and Pixie by author and illustrator Leo Lionni. I have quite a few of his books in my collection including:

It's Mine

An Extraordinary Egg

Fish is Fish

Swimmy

Little Blue and Little Yellow

Inch by Inch

Frederick

Matthew's Dream

A Color of His Own

Lionni was born in Holland in 1919 and in 1939 moved with his family to the United States. He had a very successful career as a commercial graphic artist. In 1959 he published his first book, Little Blue and Little Yellow, and went on to author and illustrate over thirty children's books, many of them award winners.

Children love Leo Lionni's books. His use of mixed media and collage are visually stimulating and their simplicity allows children's imaginations to elaborate scenes. His stories have simple morals about sharing, cooperating and self acceptance. Although they are classified as Reading Level 1, his vocabulary can be challenging with words like momentum, inseparable, and impatiently, and beginning readers will need help achieving fluency.

These books lend themselves well to sharing many different artistic techniques, both visual and written. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of our projects we will be doing. If you would like to join us, head out to the library or check out the above links to Amazon, and grab a handful of his delightful books.