Theodore and the Talking Mushroom by Leo Lionni

Lionni launched his career as an author/illustrator of books for children in 1959. At the same time, his reputation as an artist flourished as he began to exhibit his paintings and drawings in galleries from New York to Japan. Later he became design director for the Olivetti Corporation of America, and then art director for Fortune magazine. When he moved to America in 1939, Lionni was hired by a Philadelphia advertising agency as art director. It was there that he met the contacts who were to give him a start as a professional graphic designer. Having settled in Milan soon after his marriage in 1931, he started off by writing about European architecture for a local magazine. Lionni's business training gradually receded into the background as his interest in art and design grew.

He was born in Holland in 1910 of Dutch parents, and although his education did not include formal art courses (in fact, he has a doctorate in economics from the University of Genoa), he spent much of his free time as a child in Amsterdam's museums, teaching himself to draw.

Leo Lionni has gained international renown for his paintings, graphic designs, illustrations, and sculpture, as well as for his books for children. Leo Lionni died in October of 1999 at his home in Tuscany, Italy, at the age of 89. He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner-for Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than 40 highly acclaimed children's books.

Theodore and the Talking Mushroom by Leo Lionni