Draw Me a Star

by Eric Carle

Overview

This is a story of an artist who, from his earliest years, draws. The artist draws a star! Then, the tree, house, flowers, clouds, rainbow, and night.

In drawing, he discovers not only his art, but his life. Holding on to his star, he creates a world of light and possibility.

With his brilliant collage, poignant and powerful in its simplicity, Eric Carle creates an unforgettable story that celebrates imagination and the artist in us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593382912
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has been translated into 70 languages and sold over 55 million copies. Carle illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 170 million copies of his books have sold around the world. In 2003, Carle received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for lifetime achievement in children's literature. In 2002, Eric and his wife, Barbara, cofounded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (www.carlemuseum.org) in Amherst, Massachusetts, a 40,000-square-foot space dedicated to the celebration of picture books and picture book illustrations from around the world, underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form. Eric Carle passed away in May 2021 at the age of 91. His work remains an important influence on artists and illustrators at work today. www.eric-carle.com

Hometown:

Northampton, Massachusetts and the Berkshires

Date of Birth:

June 25, 1929

Place of Birth:

Syracuse, New York

Education:

Akademie der bildenden Künste, Stuttgart, 1946-50

Website:

http://www.eric-carle.com/

Editorial Reviews

During his youth, this gifted authorartist explains in his newest book's afterword, his German grandmother would often draw him a star while chanting a nonsense rhyme. Taking that symbol as his foundation, Carle here creates a world pulsating with life and color-a world that bursts forth from a good star sketched by a young artist. This kaleidoseopic pentagram requests a sun from the artist's pen; the sun asks for a tree, and so on until a man and woman are living happily among Carle's characteristic collages-flora and fauna of all shapes, sizes and vivid hues. Meanwhile the artist, now a bearded old man, continues to draw and create. This unusual, practically plotless work seems to embody a personal scenario close to the artist's heart. His unadorned language, pulsing with a hypnotic rhythm, adroitly complements the familiar naive artwork. Though some may be disturbed by similarities between Carle's evolving world and the biblical creation story (the unclothed male and female figures, for example), this tale of imagination and creativity pays homage to the artist within all of us-and may well fire youngsters' imaginations. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 4-- A young boy is told (readers are not sure by whom) to ``Draw me a star.'' The star then requests that the boy draw it a sun; the sun asks for a ``lovely tree,'' and throughout his life the boy/man/artist continues to create images that fill the world with beauty. The moon bids the now-elderly artist to draw another star, and as the story ends, the artist travels ``across the night sky'' hand-in-hand with the star. This book will appeal to readers of all ages; its stunning illustrations, spare text, and simple story line make it a good choice for story hour; but older children will also find it uplifting and meaningful. Especially pleasing is a diagram within the story, accompanied by rhyming instructions on how to draw a star: ``Down/ over/ left/ and right/ draw/ a star/ oh so/ bright.'' An inspired book in every sense of the word.-- Eve Larkin, Middleton Public Library , WI

School Library Journal

In this large, brightly illustrated picture book, an artist draws a star, which asks him to draw a sun, which asks him to draw a tree, which asks him to draw a man and a woman . . . and so on. There are biblical overtones, with the man and woman next to the tree looking like Adam and Eve before the Fall, but within a few pages the house is built, the tulips are up, and the scene becomes modern, from houseplants to clothes. Soon, the night asks the artist to draw a moon, and the moon requests a star, bringing the text full circle. Then there's a switch. A drawing lesson demonstrates how to make an eight-pointed star. Next, the artist's star carries him, floating Chagall-like, across the dark, star-spangled sky. On the last page, Carle addresses a letter to his "Friends" describing how his grandmother showed him how to draw a star while reciting a nonsense rhyme, and how his trip on a shooting star inspired this book. The illustrations, in Carle's signature style, are collages of painted, torn, and cut papers. A free-spirited, original offering.

Carolyn Phelan