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.