Tico and the Golden Wings
Leo Lionni ~ Knopf, 1964
I've almost purchased Tico online so many times since I first read about it here, but you know, the second I buy a book, it usually see it within days at a thrift shop, so sometimes... SOMETIMES... I restrain myself and wait it out. This is one time when the wait was worth it. (29 cents plus tax, thank you.) Really, who isn't a Leo Lionni fan? The man was a genius. There's really not much more to say. The pictures speak for themselves.
Tico was born without wings. His friends love him despite his handicap, but alas, who doesn't dream?
Often I asked myself, "Why can't I fly like the other birds? Why can't I, too, soar through the big blue sky over villages and treetops?" And I dreamt that I had golden wings, strong enough to carry me over the snowcapped mountains of far away.
Yes, dreams do come true, but when Tico meets a wishing bird who grants his dream, his friends diss him for no other reason than they think he's gone all highbrow with his fancy shmancy golden wings. In the end, the message is one that we are all different and special no matter what color our wings are. Many of Leo's books carry this theme of one thing wishing to be another. It makes you wonder what sort of inner demons the man battled with in his own life. Or is that just me?
Also by:Fish is Fish
Little Blue and Little Yellow
Alexander and the Windup Mouse
3 comments:
Another lovely and interesting post. It's surprising when you read the stories behind the stories how so much pain and suffering can impel a creative work of great worth. I guess Hans Christian Anderson comes to my mind immediately but there are countless others I know. I don't believe we have to suffer to be creative but sometimes it sure does help :)
"Little Yellow and Little Blue" is one of my favorite books - this one is a great discovery.
These are gorgeous! Thanks for posting them!
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