The inspiration for his first book came during a train ride, when he was trying to entertain his grandchildren by telling them a story with pieces of paper that he had torn from a magazine. In Frederick, as in his other picture books, Lionni uses evocative words and expressive art to kindle the imagination so that the reader, too, can dream.Īlthough he has written more than thirty books for young children, Lionni did not start writing until he was a grandfather. Late in the winter, when it is dark and the mice are cold and hungry, Frederick’s words spark the imagination of his fellow mice so that they can see colors and feel the sun’s warmth. In Leo Lionni’s Frederick (1967), a shy, poetic field mouse refuses to help harvest food for the approaching winter because he is busily gathering the warmth of the sun, the colors of the summer, and words to describe the seasons.
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