Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4-7. In this large, brightly illustrated picture book, an artist draws a star, which asks him to draw a sun, which asks him to draw a tree, which asks him to draw a man and a woman . . . and so on. There are biblical overtones, with the man and woman next to the tree looking like Adam and Eve before the Fall, but within a few pages the house is built, the tulips are up, and the scene becomes modern, from houseplants to clothes. Soon, the night asks the artist to draw a moon, and the moon requests a star, bringing the text full circle. Then there's a switch. A drawing lesson demonstrates how to make an eight-pointed star. Next, the artist's star carries him, floating Chagall-like, across the dark, star-spangled sky. On the last page, Carle addresses a letter to his "Friends" describing how his grandmother showed him how to draw a star while reciting a nonsense rhyme, and how his trip on a shooting star inspired this book. The illustrations, in Carle's signature style, are collages of painted, torn, and cut papers. A free-spirited, original offering. ~--Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
During his youth, this gifted authorartist explains in his newest book's afterword, his German grandmother would often draw him a star while chanting a nonsense rhyme. Taking that symbol as his foundation, Carle here creates a world pulsating with life and color-a world that bursts forth from a good star sketched by a young artist. This kaleidoseopic pentagram requests a sun from the artist's pen; the sun asks for a tree, and so on until a man and woman are living happily among Carle's characteristic collages-flora and fauna of all shapes, sizes and vivid hues. Meanwhile the artist, now a bearded old man, continues to draw and create. This unusual, practically plotless work seems to embody a personal scenario close to the artist's heart. His unadorned language, pulsing with a hypnotic rhythm, adroitly complements the familiar naive artwork. Though some may be disturbed by similarities between Carle's evolving world and the biblical creation story (the unclothed male and female figures, for example), this tale of imagination and creativity pays homage to the artist within all of us-and may well fire youngsters' imaginations. Ages 4-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-- A young boy is told (readers are not sure by whom) to ``Draw me a star.'' The star then requests that the boy draw it a sun; the sun asks for a ``lovely tree,'' and throughout his life the boy/man/artist continues to create images that fill the world with beauty. The moon bids the now-elderly artist to draw another star, and as the story ends, the artist travels ``across the night sky'' hand-in-hand with the star. This book will appeal to readers of all ages; its stunning illustrations, spare text, and simple story line make it a good choice for story hour; but older children will also find it uplifting and meaningful. Especially pleasing is a diagram within the story, accompanied by rhyming instructions on how to draw a star: ``Down/ over/ left/ and right/ draw/ a star/ oh so/ bright.'' An inspired book in every sense of the word.-- Eve Larkin, Middleton Public Library , WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In this creation story, a young artist draws a star, and the star asks for a sun, the sun a tree, and so on until the world becomes filled with living things. At last the artist, now aged, travels across the sky with another star he has made. There is poetry in the prose and mastery in the pictures, which evolve from collage set against a white background to an abundant landscape that is produced with an increasing use of color. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A remarkable, quintessentially simple book encompassing Creation, creativity, and the cycle of life within the eternal. Introduced on the title page as a toddler drawing the first of five lines to make a star, an artist ages until, at the end, he's an old man who takes hold of a star to travel the night sky. Meanwhile, the first star says, ``Draw me the sun''; the sun says, ``Draw me a tree,'' and so on: woman and man; house, dog, cat, bird, butterfly, flowers, cloud; a rainbow arching over the middle-aged artist's whole creation; and back to the night and the stars. Carle's trademark style--vibrant tissue collage on dramatic white--is wonderfully effective in expressing the joy of creation, while the economy with which he conveys these universal ideas gives them extraordinary power. Yet the story is disarmingly childlike, concluding with an ingenuous letter from the author with instructions for drawing an eight-point star. Thanks be to the book for asking Carle to ``draw'' it! (Picture book. 3+)
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