Two more picture books!

Hands: Growing Up to Be an Artist
Written and Illustrated by Lois Ehlert

K-6

5 stars

This book has a child narrator who shows us the different art projects of her father, mother, and herself. 

I love this book!  Ehlert plays with with the shape of the pages by making some sections the size and shape of a small tool box, scissors, and gardening gloves.  Ehlert’s text hides inside these spaces.  The pictures are photographs of the tools the unseen characters use and the art projects they’ve produced.  The tools, materials, and artwork are vibrant and colorful.  The photo collages that Ehlert has put into her book make me want to root around in my house for different materials to create my own piece of artwork. 

I would use this book as a way to encourage both enthusiastic and reluctant artists in my classroom to thinks about making art with different materials and in new ways.  In Ehlert’s book, she stresses that artwork can be many different things including woodworking projects, clothing, gardening and painting.  I think that this book could help students who don’t view themselves as artists to recognize other mediums and talents as artistic.  This book could also encourage “artistic” kids to try something new.

Owl Moon

Written by Jane Yolen and Illustrated by John Schoenherr

K-5

5 Stars

This Caldecott medal winning book has beautiful pictures.  The artwork is realistic and the illustrator has hidden little details and animals that made me want to look at each picture for several minutes.  The story is engaging and is written in the voice of child going on his or her first owling adventure with their father.  The author adds sensory details to her writing that shows us the quiet, cold adventure just as well as the illustrations.

This book could be used in talking about birds of prey, nocturnal animals, how animals survive in the winter, and habitats.  The pictures really help to show these topics more than the words in the story.  There are animals hiding in the illustrations that are not central to the story, but that could start a discussion on many of these topics.