Draw!
By Jan Carr,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Wildly imaginative wordless book celebrates art and drawing.
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What's the Story?
A young boy confined to bed with a temporary illness (a bottle of medicine and an inhaler are pictured at his bedside) is reading a book about Africa. He starts a series of drawings in which he's hiking across a savannah, easel in tow. But, when we turn the page, he's in Africa, setting up the easel to sketch an actual elephant. He works on some studies of zebras and stampeding giraffes and then perches in a tree to sketch a pride of lions. A charging rhino provides a dramatic, full-spread chase scene, and there are monkeyshines with gorillas and baboons: The gorilla nabs his sandwich, and the baboons take the easel and draw the boy. After a tender and touching good-bye to the elephant, another series of pictures records the boy's journey out of the plains and back to bed, where the telltale pages of African artwork are now strewn across the floor. On the last page, the boy is at school, proudly sharing his animal portraits with his class.
Is It Any Good?
This book has a wonderfully positive message: A young boy is so inspired by the book he's reading that he takes himself on an African safari just by drawing the animals in the book. The depth is in the details. Though the book is wordless, there's a story with a clear dramatic arc, and kids can inspect the art closely to "read" it. The page that shows his tender parting good-bye to the elephant speaks volumes.
Draw! also contributes to our canon of diverse children's books. In an author's note, Colón describes his childhood interest in art growing up in New York City and Puerto Rico, and the protagonist looks as if he could be Colón as a young boy. But all children can identify with this imaginative and adventurous young artist and take its directive -- draw! -- to heart.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about wordless books. How can you follow a story without words? Do you notice the art more than you would if there were words and pictures?
Talk about all the detail in the pictures -- what do you notice?
Try drawing something that's moving. How does the author capture movement in his illustrations?
Book Details
- Author: Raúl Colón
- Illustrator: Raúl Colón
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Adventures, Arts and Dance, Friendship, Great Boy Role Models, Science and Nature, Wild Animals
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Paula Wiseman
- Publication date: September 16, 2014
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 8
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Award: ALA Best and Notable Books
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
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