Kids love Leo Lionni's books because they entertain and deal with emotions, feelings and issues that are important to kids, all at the same time. Our author study is designed to explore the award winning books and artwork of Leo Lionni. The order in which Leo Lionni's books are shared is entirely up to the teacher, building more flexibility into the unit. There are complete lessons including reproducible pages, activities and questions for each of the following books: The Alphabet Tree, Little Blue and Yellow, A Color Of His Own. An Extraordinary Egg, Frederick, The Greentail Mouse, Mr M. Mouse, Matthew's Dream, A Busy Year, Tillie And The Wall, Alexander and The Wind-Up Mouse, Geraldine, The Music Mouse, and much more. This Author Study provides a teacher and student section with a variety of activities, author biography, self-evaluation, story sequencing, and reader's theatre to create a well-rounded lesson plan.

Engaging teaching activities and rare, inside glimpse into Leo Lionni's creative process that will captivate your students almost as much as Swimmy and Frederick do!

The cheerful celebration of art, music, and cheese from beloved four-time Caldecott Honor-winner Leo Lionni. While nibbling at a huge hunk of parmesan cheese, Geraldine uncovers a cheese statue of a mouse playing what seems to be a flute but on closer inspection is really its tail. That night Geraldine is woken by silver and gold sounds. “This must be music!” she says. And every night the cheese mouse fills Geraldine’s hideaway with beautiful music. Then one day her hungry mice friends ask her to share her cheese with them. Geraldine’s new love of music infuses her with a magic of her own and provides a satisfying conclusion to this delightful tale.

The gorgeous, Caldecott Honor-winning tale of a very clever fish by beloved picture book creator Leo Lionni. Deep in the sea lives a happy school of fish. Their watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger, and the little fish are afraid to come out of hiding . . . until Swimmy comes along. Swimmy shows his friends how—with ingenuity and team work—they can overcome any danger. Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Honor, this beloved tale of a brave little fish has been a favorite to generations of readers. To celebrate Swimmy's fiftieth anniversary, we are issuing a handsome special edition hardcover that includes a bonus poster.

Beloved picture book creator and four-time Caldecott Honor-winner Leo Lionni's very first story for children, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. Little Blue and Little Yellow are best friends, but one day they can’t find each other. When they finally do, they give each other such a big hug that they turn green! How they find their true colors again concludes a wonderfully satisfying story told with colorful pieces of torn paper and very few words. Leo Lionni launched his children’s book career in 1959 with Little Blue and Little Yellow, and this 50th-anniversary edition, complete with Lionni’s own explanation of how the book came to be, is sure to resonate with children today.

Two rabbits made with a pencil and scissors become real after eating a real carrot.

Originally published in 1973, this is the offbeat fable of a city mouse who visits his peaceful country cousins and tells them about Mardi Gras in the city. The country mice are inspired to have their own Mardi Gras. And at first, it is fun wearing their masks with sharp teeth and tusks and scaring each other, but after a while, they begin believing that they really are ferocious animals. Leo Lionni's winsome mice cavort across big double-page spreads of oil paintings and tell a story about what is real and what is not that is just right for preschoolers. Reissued in hardcover in 2003, it now makes its debut in Dragonfly paperback.