Praise for Finding Lucy
2020 CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens Spring Selection
“Beautiful, bright, and fanciful illustrations using acrylics on canvas gift readers with delightful details....The prose is mainly conversational, lengthy at times, and includes entertaining adjectives such as atrocious and flabbergasting. Moreover, the careful choice of words invites children to think about the correlation between art, color, and feelings. VERDICT There are many facets to this book that will give viewers something new to discover with each reread. A real find."—School Library Journal
"Fernandes' illustrations borrow both palette and a sense of vegetative lushness from Gauguin; Lucy's creations are almost wholly abstract....The text shares the illustrations' whimsy, delighting in words as much as Lucy delights in her art. A valuable lesson in pursuing your own artistic star."—Kirkus Reviews
“Rating: E...The text is carefully presented with humour, and nonsensical delight as each animal gives his or her more ridiculous suggestions. Fernandes’ illustrations are engaging, full of deep, vivid colour, humour and rendered in acrylic paint on canvas. The heroine learns a valuable lesson to be true to herself, to promote her self-expression and her art and to have confidence in herself.”—Resource Links
“[F]or child readers who love language, this story is a treat....The illustrations are an explosion of bright colours, light, and joy....The illustrations are every bit as energetic and cheerful as the text. Finding Lucy is recommended for young artists finding their own artistic voices and lovers of bright and vibrant illustrations. Recommended.”—CM Magazine
“Finding Lucy is a character-rich story of confidence and self-expression paired with colourful and vibrant illustrations....A whimsical, heartfelt story about what happens when we try to satisfy other instead of our own creative muse.”—Canadian Children’s Book News
“A great read aloud for the art teacher to discuss independence and self-expression.”—Youth Services Book Review
“Eugenie Fernandes has given us a story in words and pictures that supports that idea that creativity is an expression of self and needs to be embraced rather than questioned, especially when every armchair critic feels the need to voice their personal preferences and expects the artist to accommodate those....If Finding Lucy demonstrates anything it’s that those who observe art derive their perceptions from their perspective and attitudes and Lucy can’t possibly give every viewer what they need to see the art’s beauty. I’m glad that she finally trusts herself, and her very wise cat, that what she brings to her art is everything it needs to be to bring her joy.”—CanLit for LittleCanadians
“Using acrylic paint on canvas, Ms. Fernandes creates bold spreads that are both textured and detailed. She brings a joy to images that will encourage young children to try their hand at creating something of their own.”—Sal’s Fiction Addiction
“The illustrations are whimsical and full of colour with lots of detail. Young readers will ascertain that it’s important to follow your own heart and your own uniqueness because those two things will bring happiness to your soul. I highly recommend this book.”—Storywraps
“[Finding Lucy] mingles an old fashioned storybook sensibility (there are talking animals, and the cat is called ‘the cat’) with a dazzling and delightful abstraction, and the most delicious vocabulary. In fact, this is a book that relishes language just as much as it does colour and art…”—Pickle Me This
“This book is full of colour and movement and there are so many small things to see when you look at it, just like a good painting. This book is a reminder to readers that we are all individual and should express ourselves in the way that feels right to us, no matter what others say.”—Canadian Bookworm
11/01/2019
PreS-Gr 2—Lucy, dressed in a paint-smudged apron, loves to paint in the garden with her cat. One day a reporter, a hare, asks Lucy what she is doing. She explains she is painting the color of laughter. The reporter says the painting looks like jellybean soup. After reading the reporter's account, other would-be critics in various animal forms visit Lucy to express their personal opinions about her painting. Lucy listens and tries to accommodate the visitors by changing her artwork. Frustrated, she decides that she doesn't need to please the critics. Her art is her own. Beautiful, bright, and fanciful illustrations using acrylics on canvas gift readers with delightful details. A sailing elephant, a singing frog, and a chicken jumping over the moon are examples of artistic leaps of imagination in the story. The prose is mainly conversational, lengthy at times, and includes entertaining adjectives such as atrocious and flabbergasting. Moreover, the careful choice of words invites children to think about the correlation between art, color, and feelings. VERDICT There are many facets to this book that will give viewers something new to discover with each reread. A real find.—Mindy Hiatt, Salt Lake County Library Services
2019-08-28
Everybody's a critic.
Lucy, an elementary-age white girl who appears to live alone with her cat, is an artist, painting happily in her garden until a reporter from the local paper comes by. "I am painting the color of laughter," she explains. The reporter scoffs: "It looks like JELLYBEAN SOUP!" Nevertheless, the press brings curious art lovers to see for themselves. One thinks the laughter should be louder; another is disappointed that it's not actually jelly-bean soup. With each complaint, Lucy changes her painting. More visitors come, each demanding that Lucy create something that in some way represents their own self-interest. Only her cat supports her vision. When a "big-city critic" declares her work insufficiently "FEROCIOUS," Lucy tries hard to please, "splatter[ing] the beautiful painting with ink and garbage and mud," but the critic is not impressed. The cat comforts a glum Lucy, quietly encouraging her to return to her own style—and when she does, she's happy again. Fernandes' illustrations borrow both palette and a sense of vegetative lushness from Gauguin; Lucy's creations are almost wholly abstract. She is also the only human in the story—all the carping critics are anthropomorphic animals, lending a sense of fun and softening the unkindness of their remarks. The text shares the illustrations' whimsy, delighting in words as much as Lucy delights in her art.
A valuable lesson in pursuing your own artistic star. (Picture book. 5-8)
