NO HORSES IN THE HOUSE by Mirielle Messier & Anna Bron

 During my summer reading, I discovered this wonderful book which is too good not to share! I love stories about strong girls but this is a great book for anyone who wants to follow their own dreams.

Why this book?

I found this story in my library's online collection when doing some research for one of my own writing projects. Was I intrigued! I’d never heard of this artist before but I was captured by her story. I loved learning about her life and the perseverance she showed in working towards her dream of becoming an artist. A great story for all ages!

My thoughts as a creator:

Even though I don’t write biography, it was interesting to see how Rosa’s life experiences were selected to create an attention-getting story. I love how the colour palette the artist chose makes me think of history and the past. The characters have such great facial expressions and there are lots of interesting details and movement in the illustrations that bring a playful feel to the story.

My thoughts as an educator:

What a great book for discussing the idea of breaking down barriers and considering different perspectives! This is a good story to read anytime in the classroom, with opportunities for discussion about following your own dreams, not giving up when you face something challenging, or times when girls weren’t allowed to do things. Also a nice book for showcasing a little art history.

Ages: 5 - 9

Grades: Gr 1 - 4

Connections: gender roles, animal painting, perseverance, artist biography

Activities:

Art Discussion:  Show several examples of Rosa Bonheur’s art work to students. Discuss questions such as: What do you notice about her artwork? What subjects did she like to paint or sculpt? How does the art work make you feel? Prompt: If you could ask the artist a question, what would you ask?

Art Activity:  Trying out texture, From Suzanne Tiedemann on Artsonia.com

https://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=380844

Watch this video about visual texture:  https://vimeo.com/9284044  Talk about textures in the classroom.  Provide black paper and oil pastels for students to create their own textured lion face drawing.

Literacy/Persuasive Writing: This book could be a springboard for persuasive writing activities. For example, have students generate a list of things they aren’t allowed to do. Create a speech to persuade an adult with three reasons why they should be allowed to do it. Or, pretend you are Rosa Bonheur and design a poster to explain to others why you should be allowed to have a horse in the house.

Literacy/Alphabet: Create a class alphabet book! Encourage students to choose a letter of the alphabet and draw an animal to represent the letter. Or, make a list of the letters of the alphabet and encourage students to think of an animal to go with each letter.

STEM: Provide opportunities for students to research horses. Question/Prompt: If a horse can’t live in a house, where could it live? Design an ideal home for a horse using found materials such as straws, popsicle sticks, cardboard, and tape.

 

More resources:

• Links for background information:

http://linesandcolors.com/2014/03/16/rosa-bonheur/

https://smarthistory.org/rosa-bonheur-plowing-in-the-nivernais-the-first-dressing/

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bonheur-rosa/

https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/news/who-is-rosa-bonheur-1234643325/ploughing-in-the-nivernais-1849/

• Hands On Art Activity ideas:

https://craftwhack.com/19-animal-art-projects/

• Other reviews (click title for link):

Canadian Review of Materials, reviewed by Julia Pitre

Description from the publisher:

Based on the incredible life of the pioneering, feminist and queer artist Rosa Bonheur, this charming story depicts Rosa's early years and her drive to fight for her dreams.

Rosa Bonheur loved to draw animals. She was good at it too! Unfortunately, in nineteenth-century France, girls were not allowed to be artists. But Rosa didn't let that stop her. In this fictionalized account of her early life in Paris, Rosa studies art at home, bringing a menagerie of animals into the apartment to study up close. When she is kicked out of the horse market for sneaking in wearing boys clothing, Rosa must think creatively to challenge the rules in pursuit of her dream of becoming a world-class realist painter and artist.

No Horses in the House! The Audacious Life of Artist Rosa Bonheur, written by Mirielle Messier and illustrated by Anna Bron, was published by Orca Books in 2023.

Visit the creators (click for link):

Mirielle Messier

Anna Bron

Orca Books

 For more wonderful picture books, visit Perfect Picture Book Friday!

MY FOREST IS GREEN by Darren Lebeuf & Ashley Barron – An artistic celebration of an urban forest

What a delightful book! This is a wonderful book for the classroom or anyone who likes to experiment with art. I borrowed a copy from the public library, but I really want to buy this for my classroom collection.

Summary from the publisher:

With art supplies in tow, a young boy explores the urban forest near his home, then interprets what he sees with his art. The boy is a keen observer who uses poetic, rhythmic language to describe the diversity he finds through all four seasons. His forest is both “fluffy” and “prickly,” “dense” and “sparse,” “crispy” and “soft.” It's also “scattered and soggy, and spotted and foggy.” His forest is made up of many colors --- but he decides that “mostly it's green.” Each aspect of the forest inspires the boy to create a different kind of art: charcoal rubbing, rock art, photography, sponge painting, snow sculpture, cut-paper collage. To this artist, there's always something new to discover, and to capture

My Forest is Green, written by Darren Lebeuf and illustrated by Ashley Barron was published in 2019 by Kids Can Press.

Opening:     

This is my forest.

Well, actually…

this is my forest.



My Thoughts as a Writer:

The text in this story is very simple and clear, creating a rhythm through the descriptive words that carries you to the end of the story. I especially liked the sense of possibility suggested by the ending!

The illustrations include many different ways children could represent a forest, using art materials as well as natural materials. I love the way the artist has used patterns and texture!


My Thoughts as an Educator:

This lovely book has a short text, which is perfect for reading aloud with young children. The illustrations are full of details to look at and explore! I loved the way the illustrations show different ways the young artist has captured the forest. This book could inspire kids (and teachers) with art adventures in so many ways.


Ages: 3-7


Grades: PreK – 2


Themes: forests, art, nature


Activities:

Draw & Write: Have each student create their own “forest” using their choice of art media and write a descriptive statement “My forest is __________.” Put up their work on a display to create an even larger forest!  

STEM: Go on a nature walk and collect sticks, logs, bark, etc. Can you build a forest? Create some animals to live in your forest.

Art: Bring paper and unpeeled crayons on a nature walk. Experiment with using crayons to make rubbings of different tree and rock surfaces.

Explore: Make a set of cards for the descriptive words in the story (tall, short, fluffy, prickly, etc). Can you find something in your classroom to match each word?

SAM & EVA by Debbie Ridpath Ohi - A picture book to inspire creativity and collaboration

I am super excited to be featuring this book today! Debbie’s stories and illustrations are so much fun and I’m so grateful to have her as one of my writing buddies. For me, starting a new year always jump starts my creativity and this book definitely inspires creative thinking! It also reminds me of an art-related game my mom used to play with me and my daughters to pass the time, where we took turns adding onto the same drawing.

Summary from the publisher:

Harold and the Purple Crayon meets Tom and Jerry in this sweet and funny picture book about a boy and girl who must balance their creativity and figure out how to cooperate after their drawings come to life.

When Sam starts drawing a super cool velociraptor, Eva decides to join in. But Sam isn’t too happy about the collaboration. Soon Eva and Sam are locked in an epic creative clash, bringing to life everything from superhero marmots to exploding confetti. But when their masterpieces turn to mayhem will Sam stay stubbornly solo or will he realize that sometimes the best work comes from teamwork?

Sam & Eva was written and illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. It was published by Simon & Schuster in 2017.

Opening:     

Sam had just begun to draw when Eva arrived.

My Thoughts as a Writer:

Specific word choices help to bring out the character’s personalities in this story.  You can really see how 'every word counts.' As a mentor text, this is a great example of how to create an engaging story with minimal words. I especially love the page where the characters’ ideas really start to flourish: Marmot was actually a superhero in disguise.

My Thoughts as an Educator:

I love to read this story to my kindergarten students to encourage them to tell stories using their drawings (except we can’t draw on the walls, as one boy in my class pointed out).  Although I haven't suggested this, it would also be a fun story to practice retelling and I think I might try that the next time I read it with my students. They love retelling stories! 

The expressions on the character’s faces are great for talking about emotions. This book is also perfect for starting a discussion about what it means to cooperate.

Ages: 4 - 8

Grades: PreK – 3

Themes: creativity, collaboration, imagination

Activities:

Draw: Play a drawing game with a friend. Take turns adding new parts to a drawing. What did you end up with?

Build a story: Make four small drawings of different items on small pieces of paper or index cards. Have a friend do the same. Swap your drawings with a friend and then write or dictate a story to link the four drawings together.

Create Art: Work with two different kinds of drawing tools the way Sam and Eva do in the story. Try paints and crayon, paint and chalk or paints and pastels. What happens? What effects can you create?

Think: At the end of the story, Eva has drawn a triceratops and Sam thinks it’s a unicorn. What happens next? Draw a picture to show your idea.

COLOR BLOCKED by Ashley Sorenson & David Miles – Classroom Connections to Picture Books

When I opened this book, I was excited! The pages inside the cover show a lovely exploration of paint and color. I knew this would be fun to use in the classroom.

Key Elements for Teaching:

•          The rainbow of color on the first page was an attention-getter for my rainbow-loving students.
•          The black and white line drawing of fantastical machines showed us how to use lines with curves, angles, bits of shading and texture.
•          Color mixing concepts
•          A fun interactive story, like Press Here by Herve Tullet. I had some students help me “push the buttons” on the machine or turn the book around to “close the pipes.”

Art Connection:

1. Using the page with the black & white line drawing for inspiration, discuss the different kinds of lines and shapes. What do you notice?

2. Follow up by offering students the opportunity to draw their own machines, using black crayon or black permanent marker. (We used black crayon and it worked well.) Encourage them to draw pipes where later, color can appear.

3. Flip to a later page in the book where the “color explosion” occurs. Provide red, blue and yellow watercolour or tempera paint, with paintbrushes and water. Mix and explore!

Learning from Picture Books – CLAYMATES by Dev Petty & Lauren Eldridge

A wonderful book to encourage imaginative play and risk-taking, or to support creative exploration with clay!

            

Summary from the publisher:

What can you do with two blobs of clay? Create something amazing! But don't leave them alone for too long. Things might get a little crazy.

In this photographic friendship adventure, the claymates squish, smash, and sculpt themselves into the funniest shapes imaginable. But can they fix a giant mess before they're caught in the act?

Claymates was written by Dev Petty and illustrated by Lauren Eldridge. It was published in 2017 by Little Brown.

Opening:

“So…are you new here?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

“What do you think is going to happen?”

My thoughts as a writer:

The simple beginning question, “So, are you new here?” immediately invites readers to connect with these characters, because all kids have been in a new situation. The illustrations are actual photographs of modeled clay, shown talking to each other. So brilliant, because kids love using kids love using their imaginations to make toys and their creations talk. We also get a sense of their characters right away – the gray blob has a positive, adventurous outlook, while the brown blog is more cautious.

The entire text is structured as a conversation between the two main characters (balls of clay!) so it’s a great example to study to learn about telling a story through dialogue. I especially love how the “speech bubbles” are small, torn scraps of paper! Another nice feature is how the ending circles back to the beginning with the “What happens now?” question.

 

My thoughts as an educator:

As an educator who guides learning through inquiry, I love the way this story starts with the question: “What do you think is going to happen?” While reading this book aloud, there are opportunities to talk about taking risks and being creative, as well as persistence and problem-solving. Or you could discuss friendship and how friends help each other. 

Although the publisher lists the recommended ages for this book as as 4-8, it could easily support the art process in older elementary grades too.The photographs show us how to create form and texture using clay, and there is so much in them that I can imagine students returning to this book to look at it again and again. I want this one for my personal classroom collection! 

Ages: 4 - 8

Grades: K - 3

Themes:  creativity, imagination, taking risks, friendship, modeling clay

Activities:

Do a creative modeling clay challenge: Can you create ten different characters from the same ball of clay, using different textures?

Create a stop motion video of two clay characters interacting, using paper notes to show dialogue.

Play “hide and create” with a partner. Hide your eyes while your partner creates a cool creature using your blob of clay. Keep track of what creatures you made for each other. How does your partner’s idea influence yours?

Mr. Schu Reads showcases the book trailer along with his review. 

Little Brown provides a book chat with the author and illustrator. 

Learning from Picture Books: Sky Color

This week I'm taking a closer look at one of the nominees for the 2014 Blue Spruce Award from the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading. Other nominees I've featured so far include Oddrey by Dave Whammond (OwlKids Books), I Dare You Not to Yawn by Helene Boudreau (Candlewick Press) and A Good Trade by Alma Fullerton (Pajama Press).

Sky Color

written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

published by Candlewick, 2012

From Amazon:

Marisol loves to paint. So when her teacher asks her to help make a mural for the school library, she can’t wait to begin! But how can Marisol make a sky without blue paint? After gazing out the bus window and watching from her porch as day turns into night, she closes her eyes and starts to dream. . . . From the award-winning Peter H. Reynolds comes a gentle, playful reminder that if we keep our hearts open and look beyond the expected, creative inspiration will come.

My Thoughts as a Writer:

I liked how the story stuck with one clear story line and didn’t try to do too many things. It’s a good example for picture book writers who are struggling to learn how to tell their story in a small amount of space and words. 

The illustrations made the story come alive for me. I really enjoyed the way Mr. Reynolds drew attention to color, by creating illustrations in various shades of sepia except for the colors in the art.

My Thoughts as a Teacher:

This book would be a great one to read along with an art lesson in mural-making, color mixing or to discuss how important it is to really observe the world around you to spark your creativity.  

It would be fun to read Peter Reynold’s other books in this series, The Dot and Ish, and to talk about similarities and differences and the underlying themes of risk-taking and creativity.

Looking for other great picture books to use in your classroom or to read with your children? Check out these recommendations for Perfect Picture Books over at Susanna Leonard Hill's site.