If your child is an artist in the making
A Day With No Crayons
Author: Elizabeth Rusch
Illustrator: Chad Cameron
Publisher: Rising Moon
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Website
When Liza has an “artistic” moment on her bedroom wall, her crayons are taken away for the day – disaster! Yet, when creativity meets boredom, amazing things can happen. In this terrific book, nature becomes the new crayon box as color pops up in the most surprising of places. Wonderful illustrations complement the artistic text with written shades shown in their actual colors.
Awards: Recommended by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Winner, Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature; Oregon Book Awards Winner, Literary Arts
Beautiful Oops
Author: Barney Saltzburg
Illustrator: Barney Saltzburg
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Recommended Age Range: 3+
There are no mistakes in art, there’s just new art waiting to happen. This is the idea behind Beautiful Oops, and what a wonderful one it is. Whether a tear, spill, bend, smudge, and all the other wonderful “mistakes” that turn one thing into another, this book takes creativity to a whole new level! Don’t miss it!
Awards: 2010 NAPPA Gold Award; 2010 PAL Award (Play Advances Language) for promoting language development; 2010 Teacher’s Choice Award for The Family
Draw!
Author: by Raul Colon
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Publisher: A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Whether your child loves drawing, safaris, the animals that live there, or all of the above, this book is for you. With stunning images of a boy’s imaginative journey to visit, and sketch, the animals that live in the African Savanna, this book is a true work of art.
Awards: ALA Notable Children’s Book; International Latino Book Award 1st Place; KSRC Primary Titles – TOP PICK; NCTE Charlotte Huck Outstanding Fiction Recommended Title; Wisconsin State Reading Association’s Reading List
Hands: growing up to be an artist
Author: Lois Ehlert
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
A terrific book that shows children the importance of doing what you love. Following in her parent’s creative footsteps, we watch the author grow from a budding young artist to a writer and illustrator of some of our most beloved children’s books.
Mix It Up!
Author: Herve Tullet
Illustrator: Herve Tullet
Publisher: Handprint Books, an Imprint of Chronicle Books LLC
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 6
Some books become favorites right away; in my experience, this is one of them. Herve Tullet has created a brilliant and interactive way to show how one color can be made from two…but not without your child’s help! In the same style as Press Here, tapping, smudging, shaking, tilting, squishing, rubbing, and “smooshing,” make colors change in the most delightful ways. Magical!
Awards: Amazon.com Best Books of the Year 2014, Ages 3-5; BuzzFeed 2014 Best Books, Picture Books
The Book of Mistakes
Author: Corinna Luyken
Illustrator: Corinna Luyken
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Young Readers Group
Recommended Age Range: 4 to 8
Awards: Golden Kite Award
The Day the Crayons Quit
Author: Drew Daywalt
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Philomel Books, an Imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 7
Website
A laugh-out-loud story about crayon “drama,” shown through a series of letters, from each of the frustrated crayons. Wonderful illustrations enhance the hilarious writing and the all-important lesson: When it comes to creativity, it’s best to think outside the (crayon) box. ☺
Awards: 2015 Texas Bluebonnet Award Winner; Amazon Best Children’s Book of 2013; 2014 ALA Notable Book; Children’s Book Council – The Children’s Choice Book Award (K-2nd grade category); 2014 E.B. White Read-Aloud Winner; A Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2013; Globe and Mail Best Kids’ Books of 2013; Goodreads’ 2013 Best Picture Book of the Year; Amazon.com Best Books of the Year 2015, Ages 3-5; Booklist Lasting Connections, 2015; 2016 CCBC Choices-Picture Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; 2016 Rainbow List, Picture Books; E.B. 2016 E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, Picture Book
The Day the Crayons Came Home
Author: Drew Daywalt
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Publisher: Philomel Books, an Imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group
Recommended Age Range: 3 to 7
Website
The crayon’s lament continues in this hilarious new book by the creators of The Day the Crayons Quit; this time, however, it’s a whole new cast of “colorful” characters (well almost – there are some cameos). And while the means of communication has changed – it’s postcards instead of letters – with, of course, another set of problems, these crayons are sure to make you laugh and maybe wonder…where did I leave that crayon? ☺
Awards: Goodreads Choice Awards Best Picture Book 2015; A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book of 2015/A TIME Magazine Top 10 Children’s Book of 2015; A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2015!; A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year!
the Scraps book: Notes from a colorful life
Author: Lois Ehlert
Illustrator: Lois Ehlert
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Recommended Age Range: 5 to 10
Lois Ehlert’s the Scraps book: Notes from a colorful life is a creative autobiography that not only shares the author’s artistic life, but why she loves making books. Through photographs; pages from many of her stories; and drawings, the author takes the reader on her literary and imaginative journey. A wonderful story that will surely encourage the next “Lois Ehlert.”
Awards: NCTE Orbis Pictus Recommended Book; NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts; Texas Bluebonnet Award 2015-2016; ALA Notable Books for Children 2015, All Ages; School Library Journal Best Books 2014, Nonfiction; CLA Notable Children’s Books in the English Language Arts; Capitol Choices 2015; A Junior Library Guild Selection; Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year Selection Title; CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children’s Book Council); Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI); IRA Teachers’ Choices; Jefferson Cup Overfloweth Title; Kansas State Reading Circle List Primary Title; MSTA Reading Circle List; Wisconsin State Reading Association’s Reading List
The White Book: A Minibombo Book
Author: Silvia Berando, Elisabetta Pica, and Lorenzo Clerici
Illustrator: Silvia Berando, Elisabetta Pica, and Lorenzo Clerici
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 5
A white wall invites creativity when a little boy, a big paintbrush, and an unlimited imagination come together to make a colorful – and surprising display – of some of nature’s most beloved creatures.