Locomotive

by Julian Tuwim, Lewitt and Him (Illustrator)

Overview

Three beautifully illustrated classic Polish tales that will enchant the young readers of today

In the late 1930s renowned Polish poet Julian Tuwim, was asked to write three poems for children. The publisher Przeworski connected the three poems into one book, Locomotive, and commissioned illustrations from celebrated Polish illustration duo Lewitt and Him. Locomotive was the beginning of a creative partnership that lasted many years.

Featuring the original three poems, Locomotive, The Turnip, and The Bird’s Broadcast, children learn what’s inside each train carriage as it chugs along, how many people, animals, and friends it takes to pull a turnip from the ground, and what happens when birds of all kinds gather for a meeting in the woods.

After its original publication in 1939 in Polish, Locomotive was swiftly translated into French and English the next year, appearing at a time when it would have been a surprise and a joy to encounter bright colors and modernist- inflected imagery. Both classic and modern, its imaginative storytelling and appeal has endured and will delight children today as much as it did eighty years ago.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500650974
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Series:	Classics Reissued , #2
Pages:	47
Sales rank:	300,553
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Julian Tuwim was a celebrated Polish poet.

Lewitt and Him was formed by Jan Le Witt and George Him in Warsaw in 1933. They designed advertisements, posters, pamphlets, book covers, and illustrations for literary magazine Wiadomosci Literackie. They are particularly remembered for their World War II posters, such as The Vegetabull.

Editorial Reviews

"Terrific read-aloud rhythm [and] humorous original artwork."

The Wall Street Journal

"All three stories and the illustrations are remarkably creative and fun. The impressive translation maintains a seamless poetic rhythm and rhyme and is still relevant 80 years later. Don’t be fooled by the old-fashioned vibe, this book smartly holds its own alongside contemporary children’s literature."

New York Journal of Books

2017-08-27
A Polish children's book from the 1930s is reissued in English for 21st-century readers. Backmatter explains that author Tuwim was "asked to write three poems for children," and the publisher, Przeworski, put them into a single book with illustrations by LeWitt and Him under the title Lokomotywa. The three poems are presented as separate stories: "Locomotive," about a train and its cargo; "The Turnip," a cumulative story about a farmer and a succession of characters who try to help him pull an enormous turnip from the ground, which some readers may recognize as the familiar Russian tale; and "The Birds' Radio" (here retitled "The Birds' Broadcast"), about a group of quarrelsome birds' "chirping, warbling and squawking." While the text is rather long, and it seems that much of the poetic achievement is lost in translation, the bright lithographs present an eye-catching book that will likely be of interest to scholars and others interested in early- to mid-20th-century picture-book art. The influence of post-revolutionary Russian children's book art is especially apparent. While there is some child appeal, particularly in the second story, this title is likely to be of most interest to historians and scholars of the picture book. (Picture book. 5-adult)

Kirkus Reviews