Leo Lionni facts for kids

Leo Lionni (born May 5, 1910 – died October 11, 1999) was a famous author and illustrator of children's books. He was born in the Netherlands, then lived in Italy, and later moved to the United States in 1939. In the U.S., he worked as an art director for big companies and for Fortune magazine. He went back to Italy in 1962 and started creating the wonderful children's books we know today. His book Inch by Inch won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1962.

About Leo Lionni's Life

Leo Lionni was born in Amsterdam, a city in the Netherlands. He spent two years in Philadelphia, USA, before his family moved to Italy when he was a teenager. His father was an accountant, and his mother was an opera singer.

Leo married Nora Maffi, and they had two sons, Louis and Paolo. He passed away on October 11, 1999, at his home in Tuscany, Italy, when he was 89 years old.

Leo Lionni's Career Journey

From 1931 to 1939, Leo Lionni was a well-known painter in Italy. He worked in modern art styles like Futurism. In 1935, he earned a degree in economics from the University of Genoa. During this time, he also started focusing more on advertising design.

Working in Advertising

In 1939, Lionni moved to Philadelphia, USA, and began working full-time in advertising. He was very successful, working with big companies like Ford Motors and Chrysler. He even hired famous artists like Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder for projects. He was so good at advertising that he became a member of the Advertising Art Hall of Fame.

In 1948, he became the art director for Fortune magazine, a job he held until 1960. He also worked for other clients, designing things for the Museum of Modern Art and for Olivetti, an Italian company.

Becoming a Children's Author

In 1960, Leo Lionni moved back to Italy. This is when he started his amazing career as a children's book author and illustrator. He created more than 40 children's books!

He won many awards for his work, including the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts (A.I.G.A.) Gold Medal. He was also a four-time Caldecott Honor winner for his books:

• Inch by Inch (1961)
• Swimmy (1964)
• Frederick (1968)
• Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse (1970)

He also won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in Germany in 1965.

Teaching and Art

Throughout his life, Lionni also taught art and design at several schools. He taught at Black Mountain College, Parsons School of Design, and Cooper Union.

Leo Lionni always saw himself as an artist. He worked in many different art forms, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography. He had art shows all over the world and continued to create art until he passed away in 1999.

Leo Lionni's Children's Books

Leo Lionni was one of the first children's authors to use collage as the main way to create his illustrations. Collage means making pictures by gluing different materials, like paper or fabric, onto a surface.

Reviewers have said that his illustrations are "bold" and "beautifully simple." They often use "playful patches of color." His art is perfect for sharing with young children. Many of his books tell fables, which are stories with a moral lesson. These stories often deal with important ideas like community, creativity, and finding your place in the world.

How His First Book Came to Be

Leo Lionni often drew pictures as he told stories to his grandchildren. But one time, he was on a long train ride and didn't have any drawing supplies. So, he tore out circles of yellow and blue paper from a magazine to help him tell a story. This fun experience led him to create his very first children's book, Little Blue and Little Yellow (1959).

His Unique Style

Lionni often used natural, earthy colors in his illustrations. For example, in Inch by Inch, he used realistic browns and oranges for a robin and shades of brown and green for tree branches.

Mice are often characters in Lionni's books. You can see them in Frederick and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Lionni's illustrations are sometimes compared to those of Eric Carle. Both artists often use animals, birds, and insects to tell stories about what it means to be human.

Selected Books by Leo Lionni

• Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse
• The Alphabet Tree
• The Biggest House in the World
• A Color of His Own
• Cornelius: A Fable
• An Extraordinary Egg
• Fish is Fish
• Frederick (listed as one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children")
• Inch by Inch
• Little Blue and Little Yellow (a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year, 1959)
• Pezzettino
• Swimmy (also listed as one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children")
• Tico and the Golden Wings

See also

In Spanish: Leo Lionni para niños