Danny's Drawing Book

by Sue Heap, Sue Heap (Illustrator)

Overview

Visiting the zoo inspires Danny and his friend to make up a story — and soon his drawings take on a wonderful life of their own.

When Danny brings his drawing book to the zoo, it doesn’t take long to find ideas to put in it. First he draws an elephant with a red scarf, then an aardvark with a green hat, then his friend Ettie and himself, then an airplane to take them all . . . to Africa! And how do the two friends get home when their excursion is done? As with any reading adventure, they simply close the book —- until next time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763636548
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/25/2008
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.34(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sue Heap is the author-illustrator of Four Friends in the Garden, What Shall We Play?, and Cowboy Baby. She lives in Oxfordshire, England.

Editorial Reviews

Delicious premise, crisply written, with its sublime surprise tucked in the middle of the story for maximum impact.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

K-Gr 2- During a snowy day trip to the zoo, friends Danny and Ettie observe two elephants and an aardvark and decide to create a story about them in a sketchbook. Acrylic illustrations, rendered in a painterly style, show Danny as he notices a red scarf in a tree and then incorporates the item into the simple story line-about traveling by plane with the animals to Africa. The childlike pencil drawings appear on a yellow background in Danny's notebook. Endpapers display postcards and other delightful scribbles and sketches. Even though the illustrations outshine the text, this picture book has broad child appeal and could be used as an inspiration to young artists and authors to begin developing tales on their own.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA

Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Two friends draw and write a nature story-before the reader's eyes! Young Danny and Ettie wave to the reader as they stand in front of the zoo entrance, all bundled up on a snowy day. Danny also explains that he's carrying his yellow drawing book (which looks just like the book in hand). Inside, the pair studies the elephants and the aardvark. After Danny shows his pictures, the book switches to the inside of Danny's yellow drawing book and the children take over (several drawings to a page); only a few items in the pencil drawings are colored in, and the dialogue balloons look handwritten. Their wild adventure includes a daring airplane ride and a journey through the aardvark's network of underground tunnels. At the end of the journey, illustrations switch back to their full-color pencil-and-acrylic boldness. Ettie and Danny wonder what they'll draw tomorrow. Delicious premise, crisply written, with its sublime surprise tucked in the middle of the story for maximum impact. Young readers should be inspired to emulate Ettie and Danny. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews