KIDS

Today’s blog post was written by Kate Baird, Museum Educator at the Springfield Art Museum. 

Sometimes I forget about pencils because they’re buried under all the markers and gel pens and glitter glue.  But a pencil can make anything in the whole world, plus anything you can imagine, and then things start to get exciting! Go on your own graphite adventure by checking out The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg. Learn more about the power a pencil drawing can have, by viewing this piece from the collection of the Springfield Art Museum, made entirely with pencil.

For more magical art and drawing adventures, try these titles.

Picture Books

The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken.

As an artist creatively incorporates her slip ups into a drawing, readers see the ways in which 'mistakes' can provide inspiration and opportunity, and reveal that both the art and artist are works-in-progress.

Journey by Aaron Becker.

The first book in a trilogy, this marvelous wordless picture book will inspire family storytelling. Using a red marker, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall and through it enters another world where she experiences many adventures, including being captured by an evil emperor.

Family Read-aloud Chapter Books

A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep & Joanne Ryder.

Crusty dragon Miss Drake's new pet human, precocious ten-year-old Winnie, not only thinks Miss Drake is her pet, she accidentally brings to life her "sketchlings" of mysterious and fantastic creatures hidden in San Francisco, causing mayhem among its residents.

Inkling by Kenneth Oppel

When an inkblot, who can write, listen, learn, and draw, jumps out of his artist father’s sketchbook, Ethan believes he may be the answer to his problems. A delightful and heart-warming story of a buoyant, magical friend and a family’s journey through grief.