Max and the Dumb Flower Picture [Hardcover]

Martha Alexander (Author), James Rumford (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

Max's teacher wants the class to color-in pictures of flowers for Mother's Day persents. Determined to express his creativity, Max draws his own picture for his mother.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1—Published posthumously, this small, timeless book will resonate with children and pays a lovely tribute to Alexander. Faced with his teacher's assignment to color in a picture of a flower for Mother's Day, Max feels increasingly frustrated. He knows his mother would prefer his own drawing. While the other children obediently stay in the lines, Max finally grabs his paper and crayons and runs out of the classroom. Safely in hiding, he makes his own picture of a flower. In the end, the children (not to mention the teacher and policeman) are relieved to find Max—and so inspired by his picture that they create their own unique flowers, too. Alexander left her original sketches along with the manuscript to Rumford, who helped to complete them with some digital manipulation and watercolors. The book is respectful of her quiet but expressive style, and the illustrations work well with the text to bring Max's internal struggle to life. Interesting endpapers featuring flowers designed by Alexander's friends and family beautifully frame the theme of creative individuality. Rumford's note at the end explains how the book came to be.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA END

Review

July 1, 2009 An angry child provides the drama in this small picture book about a young kid who refuses to stay inside the lines. With lots of white space, the detailed line-and-watercolor illustrations show Max with his arms crossed as he fumes and scowls at his cheery teacher, who has made copies of a flower picture for each student in the class to color for Mother's Day. 'Make the flowers pretty,' she gushes. Max grabs the flower picture and hides under a bush for so long that the teacher eventually calls the police to find him. While he is hiding, Max turns the pre-drawn picture over and creates his own flower, and when he shows it to the class, all the kids decide to draw unique flowers, too. When they see the results, the children s mothers love the kids artwork: 'Each is so different.' Kids will enjoy the story about the young, triumphant rebel, and the creativity message is for adults too: there is no one way to get things right. --Booklist

June 1, 2009 Before her death in 2006, Alexander (the Blackboard Bear series) left her manuscript and sketches in the hands of James Rumford (Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold). The tender result honors both Alexander and the children for whom she wrote for 40 years. Asked by his teacher, Miss Tilley, to color in a picture for Mother's Day, the scowling, carrot-topped protagonist refuses: 'Max didn't want to color the dumb flower picture.' Despite the teacher's repeated insistence, Max knows his mother would rather have his very own drawing. After some stomping, sulking and hiding in the bushes, Max reveals the beautiful flower picture he has drawn on his own which inspires his classmates to do the same. Alexander is spot-on with her understanding of the pressures children feel to conform (You'll be the only one without a nice picture for your mother, says Miss Tilley) and her respect for their individualism, which to the uninformed, may appear like acting-out. Framed by white space, the soft sketches are color washed digitally and by hand, and with Rumford's collaboration, st --Publishers Weekly

The problem here for a freethinking pre-schooler is presented on the first page: "Max didn't want to color the dumb flower picture. Miss Tilley wanted him to." Instead of filling in the prefab flower for Mother's Day, Max (looking wonderfully grumpy) runs off to make his own drawing. It's a triumph when the class joyfully follows suit. Martha Alexander (1920-2007) left notes and sketches for this story about the possibilities of "a blank sheet of paper," and James Rumford ably completed it. --New York Times Book Review

Published posthumously, this small, timeless book will resonate with chlidren and pays a lovely tribute to Alexander. Faced with his teacher's assignment to color in a picture of a flower for Mother's Day, Max feels increasingly frustrated. He knows his mother would prefer his own drawing. While the other children obediently stay in the lines, Max finally grabs his paper and crayons and runs out of the classroom. Safely hiding, he makes his own picture of a flower. In the end, the children (not to mention the teacher and policeman) are relieved to find Max--and so inspired by his picture that they create their own unique flowers, too. Alexander left her original sketches along with the manuscript to Rumford, who helped to complete them with some digital manipulation and watercolors. The book is respectful of her quiet but expressive style, and the illustrations work well with the text to bring Max's internal struggle to life. Interesting endpapers featuring flowers designed by Alexander's friends and family beautifully frame the theme of creative individuality. Rumford's note at the end explains how the book came to be. --School Library Journal

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing; New edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158089156X
• ISBN-13: 978-1580891561
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,662,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A VALUABLE LESSON FOR YOUNGSTERS TO LEARN, July 9, 2009

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Max and the Dumb Flower Picture (Hardcover)

The late Martha Alexander wrote over 70 children's books in her long career, many of them addressing issues which she felt were important to young ones. Before she passed away she shard her feelings about this book with author/illustrator James Rumford:

"She believed that children need to feel the freedom of creativity - to look upon a blank sheet of paper and see possibilities, not limitations brought on by the fear "of not getting it right."

That idea is made abundantly clear in the story of Max who didn't want to color what he called a dumb flower picture even though his teacher, Miss Tilley, wanted all of the students to color the same picture as a Mother's Day gift for their mothers.

Well, as stated Max didn't like this idea at all because he knew his mother would rather have his own drawing, an original. Young readers will enjoy seeing how Max solves this problem.

Endpapers in this book are especially attractive as they're filled with flower drawings by Martha Alexander's family, friends, and colleagues.

- Gail Cooke