Mermaid

TheatreNJ.org Theatre of Nova Scotia

presents

Swimmy,
Leo Lionni’s

Frederick,
and
Inch by Inch
Welcome to Keynotes, a performance guide
created by the Education Department of
the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.
These Keynotes are designed to be used
with your students before and after
attending the performance of Swimmy,
Frederick, and Inch by Inch.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Introduction for Teachers 2

Meet Leo Lionni 3
What’s the Story? 4
About the Production 5
Things to Do and Discuss 6
Teacher Resources 7
Activity Page: Swimmy Puzzle 8
Activity Page: Make a Mouse 9
Activity Page: M is for Mouse 10
Activity Page: Inch by Inch 11
Activity Page: How Many Inches? 12
Going to the Theater 13
 Introduction for Teachers 2

aid
Dear Tea
cher,
n c h b y I nch, Merm
and I eo
im m y , F rederick, t o li f e t hree of L
In Sw S c o tia brings r o d u ction use
s
of N o v a s. The ir p
Theatre c h il d r en’s book music and
p o p u la r v e n t iv e e
Lionni’s
le s o f p u ppetry, in
e ll t h e s tories. Th
sty n to t
different c o r d e d narratio f h o w stories c
an
nd r e ample o
lighting, a a w o n derful ex
nce is
performa s. ed for
in d if f erent way r e commend
b e t old
r m a n c e has b e e n
. D e p e n d ing on the
o ough 3
The perf Pre-K thr ges in
s in g r a d e s
s , s o m e of the pa
studen t t s
it y o f y o ur studen w h ile o ther page
bil as is,”
age and a c a n be used “ -led discu
ssion
K e y n o t e s t e a c h e r
these ide for uggestion
s for
e d as a gu l s
F.Y.I.
b e u s e n e r a
should e our g
c t iv it ie s . Here ar
and a or
eachers f
• The entire performance is

t h is g u id e: e d b y t
using be u s
tended to
about 50 minutes long.

of
g e s 3 - 7 a r e in
w e ll a s f or points
• Pa n as
• Along with the visual

e ir o w n informatio
storytelling, the show uses

th udents. pied for

your
s s io n with st o t o c o
spoken narration, taken word-

is c u p h
d d to be
re designe in Pre-K a
nd
for-word from the original

8 - 1 3 a t s
• P a g e s t u d e n mation
hers of s the infor
storybooks. The narration is

t s . T e a c t o r e a d
studen re encour
aged s as
mixed with music that has

g a r t e n a t h e activitie
Kinder m o d if y
ectly by t
he
class and
been written especially for the

t o t h e u s e d d ir
aloud can be tor.
production. Both the music and

d . T h e a ctivities a c t in g a s facilita
neede acher
narration are pre-recorded.

n t s o r w ith the te
stude
• At the end of the show, the

e State Theatre! performers will come out

h
See you at t
onstage to demonstrate to the
audience some of the puppetry
and other techniques used in
the performance.

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia

Mermaid Theatre’s unique adaptations of children’s literature have
delighted more than three million young people on four continents. The
company ranks among North America’s most respected theaters for the young,
and has won widespread recognition for its important ambassadorial role.
Mermaid regularly crosses North America, and has performed in Japan,
Mexico, Australia, England, Northern Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Wales, Hong
Kong, Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. State Theatre audiences have
previously enjoyed the company’s inventive stage productions of works by Eric
Carle, Sam McBratney, and Anita Jeram.
 Meet Leo Lionni 3

Leo Lionni wrote and

HAVE YOU READ...?
Leo Lionni has written and illustrated
illustrated more than 40 highly- over 40 books. Ask your class:
acclaimed children’s books. He
Have you heard of any of these books?
received the 1984 American Institute
How many of them have you read?
of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was a
Do you remember the stories?
four-time Caldecott Honor winner—
for Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, Do you remember any of the pictures?

and Alexander and the Wind-Up • A Busy Year

Mouse.
• The Alphabet Tree
Lionni was born in Holland in 1910.
Though his education did not include formal art courses (in fact, he earned • An Extraordinary Egg
a doctorate in economics from the University of Genoa in Italy), he spent • Fish is Fish
much of his free time as a child in Amsterdam’s museums, teaching himself
• The Greentail Mouse
to draw. His business training gradually receded into the background as his
interest in art and design grew. When he moved to America in 1939, Lionni • A Color of His Own
was hired by a Philadelphia advertising agency as art director. Later he
• It’s Mine!
became design director for the Olivetti Corporation of America, and then
art director for Fortune magazine. At the same time, his reputation as an • Tico and the Golden Wings
artist flourished as he began to exhibit his paintings and drawings in • The Biggest House in the World
galleries from New York to Japan.
• Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse
Lionni launched his career as an author/illustrator of books for children
in 1959. Originally developed from a story he had improvised for his grand- • Let’s Make Rabbits
children during a dull train ride, Little Blue and Little Yellow was the first of
what is now a long list of children’s picture books. The author died in
October of 1999 at his home in Tuscany, Italy, at the age of 89.
In this interview, Leo Lionni discusses the sources of inspiration for his
books:
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. Mysterious, because inspiration must
come from a particular state of grace with which only the most
gifted souls are blessed. 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. The word get expresses these expectations well. Yet nothing
could be further from the truth. And so, to the question “How do
you get your ideas?” I am tempted to answer, unromantic though it
may sound, “Hard work.”
 What’s the Story? 4

SWIMMY
Swimmy is the only little fish among his brothers and sisters who was born
black instead of red. A faster fish than all of them, Swimmy has the mixed
Notes
blessing of being able to outswim
om the
a big fish that has comes along
fr tor
and devours his family. Poor
Direc
Swimmy is left all alone in the
world, but his sadness doesn’t
last for very long. When Swimmy
stumbles across another group of
small red fish, his quick thinking

JIM MORROW
helps them band together to fight
the larger fish in the sea.

FREDERICK
Frederick is an artistic and imaginative little
mouse. While his family gathers food for the
winter, Frederick sits around observing. The
other mice criticize him for being lazy, but
Frederick insists that what he’s doing is
One of the greatest challenges
important—he’s collecting words and colors.
inherent in the process of adapting
When winter finally comes, of course, the food
well-known story books into theater
Frederick’s family gathered sustains them. But
is defining an interpretation that
eventually the food runs out and it is Frederick’s
best represents the author’s original
vivid memories of the colors of spring, as well as
intent. We are fully aware of the
his poems and stories, that take the other mice’s
responsibility involved in bringing
minds off their troubles and get them through the winter.
these much-loved stories to life.

INCH BY INCH Because many children have well

established relationships with the
One day, a robin comes up to eat an inchworm. Instead of getting eaten, the
books from having them read
inchworm talks the robin into letting him measure the robin’s tail. The robin
repeatedly, when he or she is sitting
does not eat this useful worm; instead, he takes him to other birds so they can
in the audience in anticipation of
have something measured by the
seeing a favorite story come to life,
clever inchworm. “Measure my song
it’s very important that an immediate
or I will eat you,” says a nightingale.
connection is made. One way to
But how do you measure a song?
achieve this is to make sure that all
Using his brain, the inchworm finds a
the characters and objects look like
way to keep from getting eaten while
those in the books and move as a
he inches away to safety.
child has imagined them moving.
 About the Production 5
Amaz
ingly,
the s all
Mermaid Theatre’s production of Swimmy, Frederick, & Inch by how a the puppe
Inch employs a variety of theater techniques to help bring the by ju re ma ts in
st TW nipula
stories to life imaginatively and effectively. Some of the things you O per ted
forme
can have your students watch and listen for are: rs!
• two- and three-dimensional puppets and props
• music
• projected images
• special lighting effects

SWIMMY
The show’s creators used different styles of puppetry for each of
the three stories. For Swimmy, they experimented with two-
dimensional shadow puppets made out of colored plastic film.
They placed the puppets behind a large translucent screen and lit
them from behind. According to director Jim Morrow, “The
objects floated beautifully and looked exactly like the pictures in the book.”
To create the water texture, they scanned images directly from the pages of
the book, placed them on a DVD, and projected them on the screen.

FREDERICK
The design for Frederick was inspired by an original ‘Frederick,’ created out of
felt by Leo Lionni and presented as a gift to Eric Carle. “Our desire was to
create a show that was just as simple, beautiful, and elegant,” says Jim
Morrow. “We experimented with two-dimensional mice, covered with felt
fabric, moving across a raised surface of grass fabric and in and around two-
dimensional rocks.” They dressed the puppeteers in light-colored costumes,
so that they are visible to the audience. This technique is similar to Japanese
Bunraku puppetry. For added effect, the design team projected ultraviolet
(black) light onto the set to make particular objects stand out more prominently.

INCH BY INCH
With Inch By Inch, scale was the biggest issue. Jim Morrow explains, “In the
book, the inchworm is very small relative to the characters he encounters. In
order for the audience to see the worm from the back of a 1,500-seat auditorium,
however, he has to be a certain size. We discovered that a two-foot long worm
meant that the other characters would have to be so large that they wouldn’t fit
on our set. A six-inch worm was too small to see. We finally settled on a worm
about a foot long.” To create a contrast with the other two stories, they decided
to use three-dimensional puppets. They also chose to have the performers
remain visible to the audience during this story.
 Things to Do and Discuss 6

SWIMMY
Ask your students:
• Can you remember who was the main character in the story?
Swimmy is
• How do you think Swimmy felt when he lost his brothers and a different color than
sisters? the rest of his family. What
• How many brothers and sisters do you have? makes you different from your family
• What is the “deep, wet, world”? and friends? Draw a picture showing
what is different about you.
• Have you been to the ocean or beach? When?
• Name the first wonderful creature Swimmy saw.
• How many different colors do you think are in a rainbow
jellyfish?

FREDERICK
Ask your students: What do
• How was Frederick different from the rest of the group? Frederick and
• How did Frederick help his group? his friends see,
hear, smell, taste,
• What are some of the things YOU do to help your family?
or feel in the book? Talk about the
Other activities:
things they found. What would you
• Explain to your students that everyone has responsibilities see, hear, smell, taste, and feel if
and important contributions to bring to a group. Ask them to you were mice?
think about the different groups they belong to (family,
class, team, congregation, etc.) and discuss what might
happen if someone in the group did not do his or her part.
• List responsibilities and/or jobs that are important in the
classroom such as line leaders, clean up, paper passer, and
so on.
FUN FACT!
INCH BY INCH Worms can freeze
Ask your students: solid, yet still
• How does the inchworm measure things? survive if they
thaw out slowly.
• What are some things you would want to measure?
During the winter, any kind
• What do you think the worm will do when the nightingale of ground cover (such as leaves or
asks the worm to measure her song? Can you measure a mulch) will help them survive.
song? How?
 Teacher Resources 7

GENERAL INFORMATION
www.mermaidtheatre.ns.ca - official Mermaid Theatre site

www.mermaidtheatre.ns.ca/onTour/leoLionni/index.html -
Download an extensive study guide about the show that
includes background, activities and lesson plans.

www.sagecraft.com/puppetry - The Puppetry Home Page includes definitions

of different types of puppets, puppetry traditions from around the world,
techniques for making and using puppets, and more.

WEBSITES ABOUT THE BOOKS

www.randomhouse.com/kids/ lionni/author.html - the Random House page for Leo Lionni

http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/lionni.htm - a Leo Lionni teacher resource site, containing

lesson plans for different Leo Lionni books, activities for children, and links to other websites

WEBSITES ABOUT ANIMALS

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=245 - a teacher resource site for exploring oceans and ocean life

www.insectlore.com - information for students and teachers about worms and other insects

http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/mammals/mice.htm - a “virtual zoo” where you can learn about mice, other
mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and even extinct animals

VIDEOS
Five Lionni Classics- The Animal Fables of Leo Lionni (1986)

Swimmy...and More Classic Leo Lionni Stories (2005) - includes Frederick, Fish is Fish, It’s Mine! and Cornelius

BOOKS
Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni, by Leo Lionni. Knopf, 1997

Frederick’s Fables: A Treasury of 16 Favorite Leo Lionni Stories, by Leo Lionni. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1997

Leo Lionni: A Passion for Creativity, by Leo Lionni, Eric Carle, and Frances Foster. Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book
Art, 2003

Making Puppets Come Alive: How to Learn and Teach Hand Puppetry, by Larry Engler and
Carol Fijan. Dover Publications, 1997

Teaching with Favorite Leo Lionni Books (Grades K-2), by Kathleen M.

Hollenbeck. Scholastic Professional Books, 1999

Worlds of Shadow: Teaching with Shadow Puppetry, by David

and Donna Wisniewski. Teacher Ideas Press, 1996
 Swimmy Puzzle 8
Swimmy got all the little fish to swim together in a school for protection.
Can you get the school of fish back together again?
Cut out the pieces on the dotted lines and put them back together so they
look just like the picture.
 Make a Mouse 9

What You’ll Need: 1. Trace and cut out a mouse 2. Trace and cut out 2 ears. Glue
body. Glue it on your paper. them on your mouse body.
• scissors
• glue stick
• hole punch
• gray, brown, and
white construction
paper
• crayons and markers
• body and ear
templates
3. Cut out 4 legs and glue them 4. Cut out a tail and add it to
on your mouse body. your mouse body.
Body and Ear Templates

5. Punch out an eye and glue it 6. Use crayon, markers, and

on your mouse. Add a pupil paper to finish your mouse
with crayon. collage.
M is for Mouse 10
 Inch by Inch 11
What are some of the birds that the worm measures?
Copy the letters to write the name of each bird.

______
toucan

________
_____
flamingo

robin

___________
nightingale

How Many Things?

In the story, the worm measures a robin’s tail,

_____
a flamingo’s neck, a toucan’s beak, a heron’s
legs, and a nightingale’s song. Count them!
heron 1 tail + 1 neck + 1 beak + 2 legs + 1 song
= ________ things.
Which one is the longest?
How Many Inches? 12
Go back to the book and guess how many inches the worm measured. The chart below
tells you which three animals to start with. The last four are left blank so you can
measure anything you want. Remember, guess or estimate how many inches first. Next,
cut out your worm ruler and use it to find out how many inches it really is!

How long do you How long is it REALLY?

THINK it is? (after you
(before you measured it) measured it)

Toucan’s beak ____________ In. ____________ In.

Pheasant’s tail ____________ In. ____________ In.

Hummingbird ____________ In. ____________ In.

______________ ____________ In. ____________ In.

______________ ____________ In. ____________ In.

______________ ____________ In. ____________ In.

______________ ____________ In. ____________ In.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 Going to the Theater 13
Going to see a play is not the same as watching tv.
At a play, the actors are in the same room as the audience.
They can hear and see everything that goes on in the audience.
Use the key to find out what your job is at the performance.

watch listen performance audience clap

When I go to a , I am part of the . This is a very

important job. I have to and very carefully. If I

talk or move around, the actors and the will not be able to

concentrate on the . When the

ends, it’s okay for me to .

Keynotes are produced by the Education The State Theatre’s education program is funded in part by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Brother
Department of the State Theatre, New International Corporation, James and Diane Burke, the E & G Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, the
Brunswick, NJ. J. Seward Johnson Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Karma Foundation, the
Wes Brustad, President and CEO John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the McCrane Foundation, the National Starch and
Chemical Foundation, NJ FamilyCare, a program of the Department of Human Services, the PNC
Lian Farrer, Vice President for Education
Foundation, and the Wachovia Foundation. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.
Keynotes written and designed by Katie Pyott
Edited by Lian Farrer Funding has been made possible in
© 2007 The State Theatre part by the New Jersey State Council
Continental Airlines is the official
on the Arts/Department of State, a
“Make a Mouse” activity adapted from the Media Center at Beal School: airline of the State Theatre.
partner agency of the National
www.shrewsbury-
Endowment for the Arts.
ma.gov/schools/beal/Curriculum/media/Lionni/makeamouse.html