The First Drawing - Hardcover

Gerstein, Mordicai

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316204781 ISBN 13: 9780316204781

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers US, 2013

Synopsis

In 1994, the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc was discovered, filled with the oldest known drawings in existence at that time, made 30,000 years ago. In that same cave, prehistoric footprints were discovered: those of an 8-year-old child and a wolf. From these astonishing facts, THE FIRST DRAWING was born., In this beautiful picture book, Caldecott Medal-winning author/illustrator Mordicai Gerstein imagines one possible way drawing was invented. The young boy that stars in this story has such a vivid imagination that he sees images everywhere - clouds, stones and smoke look like animals to him. His parents, however, don't share his enthusiasm and wish he would be more down to earth., However the boy cannot contain his enthusiasm and one night grabs a smoky stick and "traces" the image he sees on a cave wall. Lo and behold: the world's first drawing.The First Drawing is a story sure to inspire any artist, young or old, as well as anyone with a dream to do something new and different.

About this title

Review

Fall 2013 Parents' Choice Award2014 CCBC Choices ListChildren's Book Committee at Bank Street College 2014 Best Book of the Year
"The much-admired illustrator Mordicai Gerstein performs a persuasive bit of magic in The First Drawing...[he] uses delicate ink over rough colorful acrylics in a visual echo of the way the fineness of artistic sensibility might have arisen in primitive Stone Age culture"--The Wall Street Journal

*"In this compelling picture book, Gerstein invites children to travel back in time more than 30,000 years to a cave in what is now southern France....Gerstein's illustrations of rocks, clouds, and shadows cleverly conceal animal shapes that both readers and the protagonist are compelled to discover."--School Library Journal (starred review)

*"Gerstein's mixed-media spreads feature a mostly blue and brown palette, and thin, rainbow-hued brushstrokes add texture and vividness....Artists see the world differently, but Gerstein suggests their true gift lies in allowing others to share in their visions."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gerstein's acrylic, pen-and-ink and colored-pencil mixed-media illustrations create depth and a sense of the past, as well as imparting liveliness and possibility...Solid storytelling, satisfying narrative circularity, and masterful, creative illustrations make this an inspiring story for young artists."--Kirkus

"The line, acrylic, and colored-pencil art, which fills up each spread, has the buoyant feeling of discovery and is clever in the way it turns imaginings into pictures. A way to think about the start of art."--Booklist

"Echoing the simplicity of cave drawings with simply sketched figures, Gerstein enhances them with expressive pen-and-ink detail and luminous acrylics and colored pencil, in hues from pure sky blue to firelight."--The Horn Book

"The story offers a creative approach to get kids thinking about that paradigm shift into artistic representation...Use this in an art class to spark consideration of the time before fingerpaints, refrigerator art, and even sidewalk chalk."--BCCB

[Gerstein's] illustrations are colorful and dramatic.-- Library Media Connection

Book Description

A Caldecott-winning illustrator's inspiring and imaginative story about the invention of drawing, told through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers US
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0316204781
• ISBN 13: 9780316204781
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 40