My Pen

by Christopher Myers, Christopher Myers (Illustrator)

Overview

My pen rides dinosaurs and hides an elephant in a teacup.

What can your pen do?

Acclaimed author and illustrator Christopher Myers uses rich black-and-white illustrations to bring a sketchbook to life, showing that with a simple pen, a kid can do anything!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423103714
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/10/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Christopher Myers has exhibited his work at MoMA PS1, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Goethe Institute in Ghana. His illustrations for Harlem, written by his father, Walter Dean Myers, were awarded a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He has also won Coretta Scott King Honors for Jazz and Black Cat, and he is the critically acclaimed illustrator of Jabberwocky and Love: Selected Poems by E. E. Cummings, as well as the author/illustrator of Fly! Christopher lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

These adventures are exquisitely visualized by Myers in black and white. Pen and ink was, of course, the proper medium for this project…Myers's beautiful drawings make their case, and the book will set children's imaginations free.

The New York Times Book Review - Raúl Colón

PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY

* "Full of energy, this radiant version of 'Jabberwocky' commands and rewards attention."— Booklist, starred review

PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY

* "Striking visuals . . . The choice of setting is brilliant."— Kirkus Reviews, starred review

PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY

* "Spectacular paintings... dynamic presentation."— School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2015-01-10
A boy describes everything his pen can do, from the literal to the metaphorical.A thoughtful boy wearing a fedora opens with a pensive, poetic assertion. "There are rich people who own jewels and houses and pieces of the sky," there are people who are famous worldwide, and sometimes he feels small in comparison—"[b]ut then I remember I have my pen." This extraordinary nib pen hides an elephant in a teacup and X-rays the boy's chest, revealing a butterfly with a pen body. It has tender abilities ("My pen makes giants of old men / who have seen better days") and cryptic qualities ("My pen is smart as a snowflake"). Myers uses nib pen for his excellently skilled, shaded and detailed drawings in black ink on white background. The boy's pen "draws [him] a new face every morning," shown only partially finished. When text says the pen "wears satellite sneakers" or "tap-dances on the sky," illustrations show the boy doing so; when the pen "worries about all the wars in the world," the boy shelters from tanks and warplanes. This pen is the boy's tool but also his heart, self and strength, and maybe it's not so unusual: "There are a million pens in the world / and each one has a million worlds inside it." Highly sophisticated concepts and art invite the long and close examination of older readers. Poignant, vulnerable, wise. (Picture book. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews