Tag: art

Categories
Book Review Parenting Uncategorized

The Nighttime Adventures of Calvin and Ollie–An Illustrate Your Own Adventure Book Review

OMG–do you know kids who would love to draw their own illustrations in their favorite book? Or kids who you have to make sure they’re not using their crayons to write in their books? AKA, unbeknownst to you, the Very Hungry Caterpillar has now been colored black? If you have kids that fit into either scenario, then this may be the perfect book for them.

The Nighttime Adventures of Calvin and Ollie–An Illustrate Your Own Adventure by Krista Franks Brock is exactly what you think it is, a story that your readers would be able to illustrate themselves. This tale is about a young boy, Calvin, and his friend Ollie, a stuffed owl who has just come to life, and their nighttime trip into the forest when Calvin doesn’t want to go to sleep.

Franks Brock does a good job of easing the reader into drawing their own illustrations. The first few pages you’ll see outlines of the owl and outlines of Calvin, which will guide a hesitant illustrator into their drawings, because they will mostly be coloring. Eventually though, your reader will be able to use their imagination to make Calvin and Ollie look exactly like they want them to.

*Side note: I recommend reading it through at least once before starting the illustrations. Knowing the story will make the illustrating that much easier. Also, depending on the age of your child, they may be able to do the illustrating independently once they are familiar with the plot. (#momwin!)

Because I already struggle with letting go of my kids’ books, I already know that this is definitely one of those books that I will be keeping. Can you imagine how much joy they will get out of rereading this book in 10 years, maybe even in 5? I can just imagine the future giggles at their juvenile illustrations.

So, if you’ve got future book illustrators or artists in your household, The Nighttime Adventures of Calvin and Ollie–An Illustrate Your Own Adventure by Krista Franks Brock could be a great way to combine their skills with a love of reading!

I was given an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review, but you can purchase this book from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1098554345?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

 

Keep #RaisingReaders!

Read more reviews about Calvin and Ollie here:

Blog_Tour_Announcement

Categories
Book Review Parenting Raising kids Raising Readers summertime Uncategorized

Art Parts by Kim Bogren Owen– A Book Review

We were lucky enough to receive the book Art Parts: A Child’s Introduction to the Elements of Art, plus a couple of the companion journals from author Kim Bogren Owen. So since we’ve got some free time this summer, we turned on some Kids Bop music and decided to have some #SummerReading fun with this book.

The cool thing about this book is that not only do the readers get to learn about art, they get to practice it at the same time, which makes it real interactive. Here’s how we decided to go through it one afternoon.

The book is really nice and hardback with glossy pages, so even though it allows the child to draw in the book, the book lover in me wouldn’t allow me to let them do that, so I was super grateful that we had the journals, which have the same sketch pages as the book does.

20170723_154644
Here’s the book and the journal

I read it to them first, but they got real antsy and ready to get down to drawing, so luckily the book is short and we went right to the journals. (If I had it to do over, I probably wouldn’t it have read it first, we would’ve done the journal and the book at the same time.)

So my kiddos got to demonstrate that they understood each element, things like shapes, lines, and color, and then (this is the part they really enjoyed) they got to create their own picture using that element.

My son drawing lines
My daughter drawing lines (in the upper corner)

The way the book is set up with the examples of each element, it worked out well for both of my kids, who have different strengths. My daughter, who is an art lover, did a really good job coming up with her own creative ways to use each element. My son on the other hand, didn’t feel like he could draw anything without looking at the examples. If I didn’t have those, he may have gotten too frustrated to continue.

We didn’t complete all the pages of the journal, but I told them they could keep them and finish whenever they wanted to, which they were excited about. The directions in the journal are simple enough that my 6 and 8 year old will be able to read them on their own. Below are some examples of the artwork my kids created.

Thanks to Art Parts, we really enjoyed some quality time together reading, drawing, and creating masterpieces. You can learn more information about author Kim Bogren Owen, including where to purchase her books at here.

 

 

Categories
Book Review Parenting Raising kids Raising Readers summertime Uncategorized

Book Reviews Coming Soon!

We just got back from our family vacation, and I was thrilled to come home to #bookmail!

From the author Kim Bogren Owen, I received the book Art Parts: A Child’s Introduction to the Elements of Art.  I get to share this book with my art loving kiddos to see what we think, plus we got some extra supplemental things to go with the book that I can’t wait to use and share with you as well.

imgres-2

I’m also super excited to be a part of the #Solobook launch team! This is the latest book written by Kwame Alexander, with Mary Rand Hess. Personally, I have loved everything that Mr. Alexander has written, so I was super thrilled to be invited to this launch team. Now, chances are I won’t be sharing this book with my 8 and 5 year old kids just yet, but I cannot wait to read it and share it with you!

imgres-1

So, my goal is to get dive into #Solobook and explore some art parts with my kids this week so I can share all the goodness with everyone!