Six Crows

While a farmer tends his field of wheat, six hungry crows watch and wait in a nearby tree. When the wheat ripens, the farmer builds a scarecrow to frighten them off, but these ingenious crows are not so easily scared. Bringing this original fable to life with brilliant collages, Leo Lionni deftly draws parallels between animal and human behavior that children can readily appreciate. And once again he shows us that compromise can work magic.

An owl helps a farmer and some crows reach a compromise over the rights to the wheat crop.

While a farmer tends his field of wheat, six hungry crows watch and wait in a nearby tree. When the wheat ripens, the farmer builds a scarecrow to frighten them off, but these ingenious crows are not so easily scared. Bringing this original fable to life with brilliant collages, Leo Lionni deftly draws parallels between animal and human behavior that children can readily appreciate. And once again he shows us that compromise can work magic.

Publishers Weekly

A war of scarecrows begins when a farmer tries to banish six crows from his wheatfield. He creates a horned, menacing figure; the crows fight back by building a giant, ugly bird to hover above the fields like a shadow. The owl intervenes and convinces both sides to talk peace. This moral tale eloquently depicts the pointlessness and futility of the ancient war of fear. As always, Lionni's characteristic primitive art and abstract forms appeal both to the naive perceptions of children and the universal sensitivity of all readers. Ages 3-7. (March)

Leo Lionni, an internationally known designer, illustrator, and graphic artist, was born in Holland and lived in Italy until he came to the United States in 1939. He was the recipient of the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was honored posthumously in 2007 with the Society of Illustrators’ Lifetime Achievement Award. His picture books are distinguished by their enduring moral themes, graphic simplicity and brilliant use of collage, and include four Caldecott Honor Books: Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Hailed as “a master of the simple fable” by the Chicago Tribune, he died in 1999 at the age of 89.