Long before Nemo, there was Swimmy. And Swimmy, the little black fish who was orphaned when a swift and fierce tuna gobbled up all the little red fish who lived in that corner of the sea, is celebrating his 50th birthday.
Or rather: “Swimmy,” the Caldecott Honor-winning children’s book by Leo Lionni, this year marks the 50th anniversary of its publication. Those who grew up with the storybook might remember its art, a series of textured prints that made Swimmy’s sea resemble a lovely collage of wet tissue paper. It was a sea just right for “a forest of seaweeds growing from sugar-candy rocks … an eel whose tail was almost too far away to remember …” and the clever little Swimmy, who taught a school of little fish to all swim together in formation to scare off big fish.
Grown-ups, however, might remember that Lionni was recognized as an innovative designer and artist. He started his career in the early 1920s as a noted futurist in Italy before turning to advertising and then magazine design in the United States. At 50, he began writing children’s books to entertain his grandchildren, a hobby that led to 40 books and four Caldecott Honors. In a short introduction to a new edition of “Swimmy,” Eric Carle, author of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” writes:
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“The jellyfish halfway through the book is similar to a potato print done by a kindergartner and is as sophisticated as the best art of our time.”
Jennifer Day is editor of Printers Row Journal.
“Swimmy”
By Leo Lionni, Knopf, 32 pages, ages 3-7, $17.99
Attention: Kids!
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