Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - The Scraps Book

Thank you everyone for all of the great posts each week for the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2014.

The Scraps Book: Notes From a Colorful Life

by Lois Ehlert

Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster (March 4, 2014)

Audience: K-3
Memoir * Women Illustrators * Art

IndieBound * WorldCat

Description from GoodReads:
The renowned Caldecott Honoree and illustrator of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom provides a moving, intimate, and inspiring inside look at her colorful picture book career.

Lois Ehlert always knew she was an artist. Her parents encouraged her from a young age by teaching her how to sew and saw wood and pound nails, and by giving her colorful art supplies. They even gave her a special spot to work that was all her own.

Today, many years and many books later, Lois takes readers and aspiring artists on a delightful behind-the-scenes tour of her books and her book-making process. Part fascinating retrospective, part moving testament to the value of following your dreams, this richly illustrated picture book is sure to inspire children and adults alike to explore their own creativity.

Reviews: Kirkus | HornBook | Publisher's Weekly | 100 ScopeNotes
Extra Material: HornBook's 5 Questions Interview with Lois Ehlert |  

My thoughts on this book:

"When I was little, I read all the books on the library shelf and I thought maybe someday I could make a book." - Lois Ehlert, The Scraps Book

 

When I began teaching my first books were by author/illustrators such as Tomie dePaola, Eric Carle, and Ezra Jack Keats. My collection also included dozens of books by Lois Ehlert.  As part of my curriculum, I created many learning activities tied into Ehlert's books. Though I never thought to do an author study on Ehlert, with the release of her incredibly creative memoir, The Scraps Book, I am already itching to do exactly that.

Today, Lois Ehlert is 79 years old and still creating art and books. Frankly, amazing anyway you look at it. When I opened up this book, I knew within a few pages that it was coming home with me. Ehlert shares with readers how her family inspired and supported her art. Readers are treated to little facts about the art and ideas she used to create her books.  I loved that she explains that "I'm mess when I work."

The Scraps Book celebrates the life and art of Lois Ehlert in only the way that she can do it with mixed media and scraps of all kinds and the images that made us love her over the years. As I mentioned earlier, I already want to create lessons and an author study with this book as the center of our inspiration.

An interview with Lois Ehlert (Reading Rockets):



Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews: