{"product_id":"9780972551601","title":"Leo Politi: Artist of the Angels","description":"Author and illustrator of many books for children, including  the Caldecott-winning Song of the Swallows, Leo Politi brought a rich  diversity of cultures and traditions to the page. Politi fans and newcomers  alike will learn about the man, his work, and his legacy in this  richly-illustrated volume.\u003cp\u003e    Leo Politi began life on a sunny horse farm near Fresno, California. At the  age of six, he and his family moved to Broni, a small hill town in northern  Italy. There Leo became known as Il piccolo Americano, the little American.  Although his adult fame would be as an illustrator and author, Leo¹s first  foray into the art world may well have been more performance piece than  anything else, making a sensation in town with the colorful Indian costume  he wore daily. Before long, Leo was leading a troupe of similarly dressed  children up and down the streets of Broni.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e    Though the tiny Italian village proved to be just as idyllic a place to live  as the fields of Fresno, for Leo, California was home. So, as a young man,  after a stint in the Italian army, Leo boarded a freighter bound for  America. As the boat made its way along the Central American coast, Leo was  entranced by the landscape, the color, and the people he saw. It was, in  fact, the journey as much as the destination that would affect his artwork  and subject matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e    Leo was a true innovator in children¹s books. Rather than setting his  stories in a generic landscape the city, the town, or the farm many of Leo¹s  books detail individual cultures. His most famous book, The Song of the  Swallows, combines his love of Latino life with a reverence for nature. A  Caldecott winner, The Song of the Swallows tells of the clouds of birds that  return each year to a small church courtyard in San Juan Capistrano,  California. All told, Leo would write and illustrate over twenty books  during the course of five decades. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Four Winds Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47019155652848,"sku":"9780972551601","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780972551601","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}