The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle
| The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Luci Davin
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| Summary: Simple but gorgeous picture book with an important message | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 32 | Date: October 2011 |
| Publisher: Puffin Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0141340012 | |
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Longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2013
Eric Carle's latest story consists of just 50 words, 10 animal paintings and two pictures of the young artist at work. Simply, a child creates a series of vibrant paintings of animals in unusual, striking colours, including a blue horse, a green lion and a multi-coloured, polka-dotted donkey. My own favourite is the purple fox. The child says, I am a good artist.
The one page explanatory note at the back of the book, for older readers, uses far more words than the main story to tell a tale of Franz Marc and Eric Carle, making it clear that this is a book with an important message, that what matters is colour and creativity.
Franz Marc was an early 20th century German artist who whose unconventional paintings in non-realistic colours were controversial but inspired others, and he was particularly famous for his blue horses. He died in World War I. Later, he was one of a number of painters banned by the Nazis.
Eric Carle, born in 1929, grew up in Nazi Germany. His art teacher noticed his unusual ideas and secretly showed him some forbidden art while explaining that he was only allowed to teach strictly realistic drawing and painting.
My children are big fans of Eric Carle's work. I think this book may take longer to catch on with them than favourites like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but it is a lovely book to look at and talk about with children of different ages. You can also use it to inspire children's own drawing and painting activities.
Thank you very much to Puffin Books for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Do take a look at The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Katie and the Waterlily Pond by James Mayhew (about Monet's work) is another picture book written to introduce children to art.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle at Amazon.com.
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