~~ DRAWING ~~
Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
In Ish, Ramon loves to draw until his brother laughs at his drawings. When his sister tells him that his drawings are “ish” like, he finds his love for drawing again. This is a wonderful story about how art is what you make it, not what looks “right”.
The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg
The Pencil tells the story of a pencil that begins drawing and all the funny things that happen along the way. I really enjoyed this story, it keeps you wondering what will he draw next.
Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman
In Lines that Wiggle, readers follow a line through the book that twist and wiggles into many different shapes. Along the way the rhyming text describes the shapes the line takes. The pictures have a vintage feel and are so fun.
The Line by Paula Bossio
The Line is a wordless book that illustrates the adventures of a little girl when she finds a single line. The book is so simple that you can add all the details with a bit of your own imagination.
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
I love this book, it is so cute and funny. The book is a series of letters from different color crayons explaining how they feel about the boy that uses them. Each letter is different and so funny. I love that yellow and orange are not speaking because they both want to be the color of the sun. At the end, the boy learns to be creative with the crayons and think outside the box.
A Day with No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch
In A Day with No Crayons, Liza’s mom takes away her crayons when the only blank space is the wall. Without her crayons, Liza begins to discover all the ways she can create art in the world around her. The illustrations for this book are beautiful and bring the story to life.
Dog Loves Drawing by Louise Yates
Dog Loves Drawing begins when Dog receives an empty book in the mail. As he begins to sketch and doodle, Dog discovers another world that can be anything you want. The story keeps you wondering what Dog will draw next and reminds you that all you need to do is pick up a pencil and try.
Chalk by Bill Thomson
Chalk is another wordless art adventure book. For chalk lovers this is a wonderful story of where your imagination can take you when you are creating with friends. I love the ending of this story and all the ways you can use this book to encourage your kids to create with chalk.
The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
The First Drawing tells the story of a boy who sees animals in everything; clouds, rocks and shadows. What will happen when he decides to make the animals draw the animals on the wall? This is a great story to read and talk about how art has not changed since man first began drawing.
~~ PAINTING ~~
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More is a fun and colorful book about a little girl that can’t stop herself from painting anything and everything. Little Bit loves when she paints herself and there is paint everywhere.
The Jellybeans and the Big Art Adventure by Laura Numeroff
The Jellybeans are painting a mural and each person is using their special talents. The story shows that even if you like different things you can work together to create something beautiful.Let’s Paint by Gabriel AlborozoLet’s Paint is a wonderful book that talks about all the ways you can create art. The theme throughout the book is that the most important part of art is to have fun.
Art & Max by David Wiesner
Max wants to paint like Art, but Max has his own way of creating art. This is a fun book that shows everyone does things in their own way. I liked how Max makes Art his art and takes away his color, shading, and shape until he is just a messy line and then makes him back into Art. Readers can see how the illustrator starts simple and works up to a fully colored character.
The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle
This book is great for little ones to encourage being creative and thinking outside the box. I like the simple style of Eric Carle. The pictures are so bright and colorful.
Sky Color by Peter Reynolds
Sky Color is the story of Marisol, a budding artist, who helps her class paint a mural. When she can’t find the blue, she discovers the many colors that make up the sky. The book’s illustrations are simple and beautiful and I love that only parts of the picture are painted.
Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola
Legend of the Indian Paintbrush is the story of a Native American boy who uses things from nature to paint the sunset. I enjoy Tomie dePaola’s stories and this is a great story that shows how people created paints before you could just buy them in a store.