Art

by Patrick McDonnell

Overview

A rhyming tribute to a budding young artist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316114912
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	04/12/2006
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.37(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.37(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the Mutts comic strip, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. He has illustrated for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Time, Parents, and other journals, done CD covers for the Greatest Hit classical music series, and created a license plate for his home state of New Jersey. Hailed as "the next Charles Schulz," Patrick sits on the board of directors of the Humane Society of the United States, and has won numerous awards for both Mutts and his animal welfare work. He is the co-author of Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman and also contributed a story to Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night, edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly (HarperCollins, 2003).

Editorial Reviews

Art loves to make art and make art he does—everywhere! From zigzags to splotches to curlicues, Art is always creating art. Shape, line, and color surround Art as he joyfully draws the things he feels. His simple drawings become more developed as he continues to draw and draw. Art finally falls asleep at his desk and dreams of his images taking on a life of their own. When he awakes, he glances at the refrigerator and sees that his mom has affixed many of his drawings there for all to see. It turns out that mom loves Art (and art), too. McDonnell's spare line drawings are perfect for this story since they seem as if they would be easy to draw yourself (they are not!). The art itself is so free form that there is a jazzy feel to them. To play on that, Bobby McFerrin, noted jazz vocalist and scat aficionado, narrates/sings/scats the story line. With McFerrin's vocals and McDonnell's art and story, this is a perfect package for showing kids the power of creative expression. The author interview with McDonnell is well-worth the viewing. He speaks of how he moved from cartooning to children's books and how much he is enjoying the genre. For those children who might find the scat a bit hard to understand, a read-along option is offered. As always, a lesson plan is included for use in the classroom. Running time: 6 minutes. Animation. Reviewer: Joan Kindig, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Joan Kindig