Review by Booklist Review
Remember Ed Emberley's step-by-step drawing books? Here is a similar concept that cleverly pairs a Halloween story with very simplified drawings. A cat named Little Man goes on a nighttime jaunt through the wetlands (ending at the jazzy club Le Chat Noir Bistro), and breaks are taken along the way for drawing instructions for various animals, plants, and other items Little Man sees. From a jack-o'-lantern to a flying barred owl to moon shadows to chefs' hats and pants, the objects are a combination of stick figures and block forms. Nothing is simpler than Little Man himself: one continuous line with two dots for eyes, a V for a mouth, and a few squiggly stripes on his back. Swaths of subdued color pastels are added to the final objects and scenes, finishing the images. The cat's name is rather odd, and a recipe for escargot is pretty weirdly placed. Nevertheless, this is a journey of gentle drawing instruction that kids will enjoy.--Cummins, Julie Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-In his second adventure, Little Man, a cat, goes on an all-night Halloween prowl that takes him through the forest to a costume ball. As in How to Draw a Sailing Cat (Sterling, 2009), there are only one or two sentences per page, but the authors manage to give the feline a charmingly jaunty personality. The book is illustrated with simple line drawings created with pencil, pastels, and a Mac in rich autumn hues. Embedded in the pictures are instructions that show readers how to draw Little Man and many of the things he encounters. The result is a hybrid picture book and step-by-step drawing manual. A few of the featured items, like the witch and the jack-o'-lantern, have a strong connection to Halloween, but most of the subjects come from nature, like a field mouse and an oak tree. The book is inviting, unintimidating, and accessible to young or reluctant artists. Advanced artists may be more interested in Curt and Kelley Visca's How to Draw Holiday Symbols (Powerkids, 2004), which does not have an endearing story, but does have slightly more challenging drawing projects.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT (c) Copyright 2011. 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 Kirkus Book Review
This book tries to be so many things, but they add up to very little.Sikorski and Sunday create a thin story about feline Little Man who likes to wander about the wetlands. Interspersed are step-by-step instructions for drawing the creatures and objects the cat encounters (or not) during his nocturnal rambles. The format is terribly confusing. The first page shows Little Man returning home at dawn, walking through a pumpkin patch, past a scarecrow with a small bird singing on his shoulder. Brief instructions follow for drawing a Common Yellowthroat (the small bird), the cat standing and sitting, the cat napping and jaunting about, a scarecrow and a crow. But readers have not seen a crow, nor has the cat been shown in these various positions, which will puzzle them. The instructions themselves are odd. Instead of breaking down drawing into easy-to-grasp elements such as shape, line and shading, the authors seem to assume readers will only want to replicate their simple style. If the constant back-and-forth format were not jarring enough, the author/illustrators often add sound effects to the how-to-draw parts. There is even a recipe for escargota fave for Little Man but not for many childrenprovided on the page giving four steps to recreate the cat licking his paws.Those looking for helpful drawing lessons will be better served by instructional volumes from Ed Emberley or Ralph Masiello.(Informational picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
