A colorful, charming tale that encourages young artists to find beauty everywhere they look.
When a girl forgets her art box at home, her grandmother helps her see the wondrous potential in everyday objects in Odusanya’s picture book.
Amelia, who has tan skin and brown hair, is a young girl with a “secret” art technique: She likes to take photos of everyday objects with her camera, then use the photos as inspiration for paintings. One day, Amelia heads to her grandmother’s farmhouse and sees a variety of beautiful views along the way. But when she arrives, Amelia’s crestfallen to realize that she forgot her art box at home. Amelia’s grandmother then shares some words of wisdom: “Art is INSIDE of you, and supplies are all AROUND you. You just have to look for them.” These words inspire Amelia to look at her surroundings with fresh eyes. Bold colors and lines make Medonza’s delightful illustrations practically pop off the page. Odusanya uses simple language to impart ideas and lessons, making this an ideal book for young readers. Kids and adults alike can take inspiration from a “Grown-Up’s Guide” at the end of the book that offers helpful ideas to get kids started on making their own artwork from everyday objects such as rocks, cotton swabs, and hardware. The story, pictures, and suggested activities transform this simple book into an experience the whole family can enjoy.
A colorful, charming tale that encourages young artists to find beauty everywhere they look.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Sunshine and Rain Co.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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