I am sure that, temporarily tucked away in my memory, they will eventually become the title of a story for which as yet I have no idea. Only last night I was jolted out of a near-slumber by the words the mouse that didn’t exist. And it may even happen that in the dark of our minds there appears, out of nowhere, a constellation of words that has the bright, arrogant solidity of a title. Sometimes, I must admit, the motivations of a book may be found in a sudden, unreasonable urge to draw a certain kind of crocodile. Others stem from a clearly articulated conflict situation. Others are blessed with a promising beginning, or perhaps with the vision of an ending (which means working backwards to a surprise opening). Some are fortunate enough to have, from the outset, a strongly identified hero, one with an inescapable destiny. Each book, at the birth of its creative history, has such a moment. But, though it is important, it produces no more than the germ of an idea. The sense of instant recognition with which we pull this image into the full light of our consciousness is the initial impulse of all creative acts. “It is true that, from time to time, from the endless flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more important, an irresistible poetic charge. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. The word get expresses these expectations well. Simple, because ideas are expected to drop into one’s mind in words and pictures, ready to be transcribed and copied in the form of a book, complete with endpapers and cover.

Mysterious, because inspiration must come from a particular state of grace with which only the most gifted souls are blessed. “Of all the questions I have been asked as an author of children’s books, the most frequent one, without doubt, has been ‘How do you get your ideas?’ Most people seem to think that getting an idea is both mysterious and simple. 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. “From time to time, from the endless flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more important, an irresistible poetic charge.”-Leo Lionni

Frederick book by leo lionni