Monday, August 4, 2014

Paint on...the furniture, yourself, your dog.......


Quote of the day:

                     "Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time."  - E. P. Whipple

Today's featured book:





Title: I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!
Author:  Karen Beaumont
Illustrator:  Davie Catrow
Age range:  Pre-School - Grade 2
Format:  board book

A peek inside is always fun:
















My take on the book:

This little boy is a master painter.  He loves colours, creating and freeing himself to be a frenzied conductor of the Painting Rhapsody of Embellishment.  He twists and turns, swipes and brushes like one lost in the beauty of his vibrant creation.  He magically transforms the walls, the ceilings and finally his magnum opus?....HIMSELF!  He  dabs and strokes and dribbles, oozing psychedelic blobs on his head, back, hands, legs and feet...why even his dog gets a colourful, sticky makeover.  Then in comes the great force that will terminate this aspiring painter's movements and tune....in walks MOM!!!

This fun, witty book is written in rhyme and can be sung to the signature tune of ," It Ain't Gonna Rain No More".... if you dare.  It is perfect for a story time read. The humorous illustrations and text will have not only your child laughing out loud but asking for the story again and again.  May the art of self-expression never die!  

About the author:



KAREN BEAUMONT is the author of many books for children, including theNew York Times bestseller, I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More!Move Over, Rover!, a 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book; and Louella Mae, She’s Run Away! She lives in San Martin, California.



About the Illustrator:



David Catrow's favorite subject in school was math. Why? Well, Mr. Hirsch's class was where Catrow did some of his best drawings! Catrow's zany illustrations have illuminated over 30 books for kids, and his editorial cartoons are syndicated in more than 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Not bad for someone who started out as a pre-med major at Kent State and later worked as a paramedic for ten years. During this time Catrow also worked as a freelance artist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon-Journal. Art finally emerged as his definitive career, and he's never stopped since.
Catrow's illustrations in Stand TallMolly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell make you fall instantly in love with the short, clumsy, and buck toothed Molly Lou. He continues his spirited style of illustration in his newest book, We the Kids. In this book, Catrow makes understanding the Preamble to the Constitution accessible to children and even fun!
His work in She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head earned Catrow recognition when it was named the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year in 1995. Catrow's watercolor and crayon illustrations for Take Me Out of the Bathtub, a collection of sing along traditional tunes set to loopy new lyrics, were praised for their cartoon-like absurdity and outlandish nature. And his slimy and goopy illustrations of a school science project gone awry in The Fungus That Ate My School make you want run for your life! Catrow's clever Dr. Seuss-like lively fungus overtakes a whole school while morphing itself into familiar school staff members it's a laugh aloud read at its best!
This amusing illustrator and his wife, Deborah, live in Ohio and have two children. When asked what would be the one thing he would like to learn to do, Catrow replied that he'd like to learn to catch a Frisbee with his teeth! It's this same offbeat sense of humor that truly colors his art. There's no doubt that Catrow's work has brought chuckles, smiles and even smirks to the young and old.


A poem just for fun:

Art is Hard


Painting's really difficult,
With pencils I'm nonplussed.
Charcoal just gets everywhere,
And crayons are a bust.

Pastels are too tricky,
And pens, they lead to splodge.
Gluing's just too sticky,
Papier-mâché I just bodge.

Art is really taxing,
This creating tires me out.
And I'm really far too messy,
Of that I have no doubt.

So there's paint upon the ceiling,
And pencil on the chair.
There's pastel dust just everywhere,
Mum's shrieking with despair.

Our dog's stuck to his basket,
Crayon scrawled across the door.
I think it will be quite a while,
'till I create once more!
©2013 Gareth Lancaster


                                          Book Review Rating:  8 (Fantastic!)

Read on and read always!    Have a wonderful day everyone!  


















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