{"id":2589,"date":"2013-06-25T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-25T06:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2589"},"modified":"2013-06-25T00:01:20","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T06:01:20","slug":"hes-holding-up-well-for-a-50-year-old-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2589","title":{"rendered":"He’s Holding Up Well for a 50-Year-Old Fish …"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“…and when they had learned to swim like one giant fish, he said, ‘I’ll be the eye.'”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

I’ve got to pack for ALA<\/a><\/strong>, and I will<\/em> be back later this week, even though I’ll be in Chicago and away from 7-Imp Central (my very messy desk). But I leave you for now, as I head towards my suitcase with the best of intentions (though in reality I throw stuff in there about thirty minutes before I leave), with some art from Leo Lionni’s<\/a><\/strong> Swimmy<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, which received a 1964 Caldecott Honor. (This is fitting, since ALA will, in many ways, celebrate the 75th anniversary<\/a><\/strong> of the Caldecott at the conference this week.) Swimmy<\/em> was in excellent company that year, what with Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are<\/a><\/strong><\/em> taking home the big gold. <\/p>\n

For the 50th anniversary of Swimmy<\/em>, Random House has just released a new edition<\/a><\/strong> with an opening tribute from Eric Carle<\/a><\/strong>. Here’s part of what he wrote, which I love: <\/p>\n

Like all of Leo Lionni’s work, Swimmy<\/em> is a magnificent blend of story and graphics. Here, I feel, he has been more daring than ever. Both childlike and sophisticated, the images in the underwater environment glide by like a film across the screen. 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. … Lionni, ever inventive, using the ornamental edge on a napkin or doily, painted on it and made prints. The joy that Lionni must have felt while doing this couldn’t possibly escape the viewer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s a bit more art. Enjoy. <\/p>\n

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“One bad day a tuna fish, swift, fierce and very hungry, came darting through the waves. In one gulp he swallowed all the little red fish. Only Swimmy escaped.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“He taught them to swim close together, each in his own place …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread)<\/center><\/p>\n

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* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

SWIMMY. Copyright \u00a9 1963 by Leo Lionni. Tribute copyright \u00a9 2013 by Eric Carle. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. All images used with permission of the publisher.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“…and when they had learned to swim like one giant fish, he said, ‘I’ll be the eye.’”(Click to enlarge spread) I’ve got to pack for ALA, and I will be back later this week, even though I’ll be in Chicago and away from 7-Imp Central (my very messy desk). But I leave you for now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}