Storybook Art: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of 100 Great Picture Book Illustrators (Bright Ideas for Learning) [Paperback]

MaryAnn F. Kohl (Author), Jean Potter (Author), Rebecca Van Slyke (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003 | Age Range: 4 and up | Series: Bright Ideas for Learning

Ages 9 to 12 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MaryAnn F. Kohl is the award-winning author of Discovering Great Artists, Mudworks, First Art, and Preschool Art. She is a columnist for Parent & Child and Parenting, has appeared on numerous television shows including the Discovery Channel's Home Matters and the Health Network's 123Grow, and is a consultant for Fisher-Price and Jim Henson Company. She lives in Bellingham, Washington. Jean Potter is the author of Science in Seconds for Kids and Over 100 Experiements You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less and the coauthor with MaryAnn F. Kohl of ScienceArts, Global Art, and Cooking Art. She lives in Charleston, West Virginia. Rebecca Van Slyke is a teacher and has illustrated numerous titles including Discovering Great Artists and Global Art. She lives in Bellingham, Washington.

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Bright Ring Publishing (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093560703X
• ISBN-13: 978-0935607031
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MARYANN PRESENTS! Bring MaryAnn to your location and she'll put on a full day event with hands-on art for the attendees. Receiving RAVE reviews all over the country. Write or call to schedule. Go to: www.brightring.com

MaryAnn Faubion Kohl, a former elementary education teacher, launched Bright Ring Publishing, Inc. in 1985 with her first book, "Scribble Cookies" (now available as "Scribble ART"). Bright Ring has published seven books by MaryAnn about art for children, their parents, teachers, and care providers, as well as twelve titles for Gryphon House, Inc. (with international rights in over ten languages).

MaryAnn presents internationally on the topics of art for children and self-publishing for writers, writes for Parenting and Family Fun magazines, has been a prop designer for a Jim Henson Company's TV program, and consults for numerous educational groups, Kaplan Early Learning, Discount School Supply, and Fisher-Price. She enjoys writing short essays on memorable childhood experiences.

MaryAnn and her husband reside in Bellingham, Washington at the foot of a steaming volcano.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great reference for elementary and home school teachers! September 3, 2009

By Judy K. Polhemus TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Storybook Art" is one of those keepers that can be used over and over again. And not necessarily for the art projects!

As a retired English teacher and current children's librarian, I have held thousands and thousands of books in my hands. This book ranks up there in the very top echelon of most organized books. In fact, the lay-out of illustrators and organization of information is just incredible.

But first, what this book is all about is the creation of art that goes beyond the book itself (on which the art is based) to show children (adults?) just how the illustrator/writer created the artwork so integral to the story. In other words this book contains "over 100 companion art activities matched to children's favorite picture books" (6).

Some examples:
Scratch board art based on Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," a must-read classic.
Illustrated music--Nancy Winslow Parker's art in "Oh, a Hunting We Will Go"
Tankas to go with Faith Ringgold's "Tar Beach"
Friendship Stick (a likely to-be-treasured keeper) based on the classic "May I Bring a Friend" by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers
Color Outline--Molly Bang's "When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry"

The variety of art projects is almost mind-bogling, just as the illustrations on which they are based.

Now the amazing organization. The art is group into four broad categories for projects: paint, draw, cut/collage, and craft/construction with artists in each presented alphabetically. The Chart of Contents in the front of the book provides this information. Also included is the birth dates of each illustrator. Just as teachers have little parties for each child as his/her birthday arrives, so too can the class recognize the illustrator's birthday (which many teachers already do for authors).

However, it is Chapter 5: Resource Guide and Index, which is so fabulous. Here is what the reader will find:
Author/Illustrator Information and Biographic Websites
Publisher Websites
Resource Books--Illustrators and Authors or Picture Books (just a short but handy list)
Illustrator Websites (worth the price of the book!!!)
Picture Book Publishers and ISBN numbers of books in this volume
Quotes and Cites (a quote is used by each illustrator--this shows its source)
Picture Book Awards
Illustrator Index
Author Index
Picture Book Index
Art Activity Index
Easy Index
Art Activity--Page Order Index
Storybook Art Illustrators Hall of Fame (with thumbnail photos)
Bright Ideas Bookshelf (other titles in this series of books about art across the curriculum)

What a dazzling array of books, illustrations, artists, writers, publishers, art activities. Oh my!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars We have had so much fun with this book January 13, 2012

By M. Heiss

Format:Paperback

My kids are a bit older -- the youngest is a first grader, so they have a few more skills than preschoolers. In my opinion, that makes the projects even more fun.

When I sit down to read a storybook to my family, whether it's an old favorite or something new to us, they love it. Since everybody is old enough to read, they can take turns reading the blurb about the illustrator and giving directions for the project.

Some of the projects relate directly to the illustration style -- for "Harold and The Purple Crayon", for example, you wind out a long, long line of adding machine tape and have the child walk the crayon along the length, stopping to put in destinations and change the drawings. Then I made a video of each of them telling their stories -- they were great, and all different. That project relates directly back to the book.

Other projects are more of a tangent -- for "More Spaghetti, I Say," you boil up a pot of noodles, mix noodles with glue, add glitter and beads and whatever the kids like (shell collection, plastic bugs... nothing valuable, because this is food art and eventually it's going into the trash can. So you aren't mimicking the book's illustration style, but you are playing around in a new and fun way with spaghetti, and the story is funny.

For most of these projects, prepare to get your house messy. Glitter is infernal and persistent; gelatin is a gloppy mess; confetti has a tendency to get tossed from one kid to another. Go with it. The kids are making memories and laughing together? That's what you want.

I'll post some photos of our completed projects in Customer Images -- we have various levels of skill and interest.

I'm very grateful to this book (and its author, and all the illustrators) for giving us some after-school unwinding activities that aren't expensive, aren't difficult, and aren't competitive. Good, messy fun.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous art fun June 27, 2011

By J. Flaherty

Format:Paperback

This is a wonderful book! The projects are simple, yet engage children and bring out their creativity. I am using it to host my own once-a-week art class for my kids and their friends, and we are all really enjoying it (moms and kids). I am able to check out many of the story books from our library, so we read the book and then do the related project. It is amazing how the kids can do the same project, yet each child comes up with a completely different result. We recently did the pressed clay illustration, and the kids spent a long time working on their pictures. The older kids (four 6-year-olds) even made second bird pictures because they enjoyed making the first ones so much. If you need art projects for the preschool through elementary set, this book is fantastic.