The Scraps Book
Notes from a Colorful Life
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4.1 • 8 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ehlert employs her signature collage technique and images from her past work to explore her lifelong relationship with creating art in this open and encouraging picture-book memoir. The journey begins with Ehlert's early creative inklings ("I thought maybe someday I could make a book"), accompanied by family photos, images of the tools she uses today including pinking shears, paintbrushes, a cheese grater and a glimpse of her vibrant studio space. She shares thoughts on her varied sources of inspiration ("When a squirrel slipped into my house, a book idea walked right up to me!" she writes about Nuts to You!) and illustrates how those ideas are translated to the page via dummy sketches and finished collages, with hand-lettered captions providing context and detail. In case readers get the itch to join in, Ehlert also offers instructions for such crafty projects as a bird feeder and a cat mask. It's an inviting inside look at Ehlert's extensive backlist and how the books were made, with nearly every page making it clear to readers that this kind of creation is well within their reach. Ages 5 10.
