This afternoon at the library, I found a book I KNOW kids (and art teachers) are going to love. ONCE UPON A LINE by Wallace Edwards was just published this month and reminds me a little of Chris Van Allsburg's classic MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK. The story begins with an introduction…
One rainy night many years ago, we found in the attic a letter folder inside an old steamer trunk. The contents belonged to our Great-Uncle George. Not much is known about him except that he was a magician who traveled the world and disappeared on stage along with a monkey and a motorcycle.
It was said that Uncle George had an enchanted pen from the East. With this pen, he would draw an ordinary line. With this pen he would draw an ordinary line. That lined turned into a painting.
The reader is then invited to look at a series of paintings. Somewhere in each painting is is hidden the line. Each painting has a million details to discover. A king holds a bouquet of balloons. A baby alligator. A penguin wearing a cowboy hat with a peacock feather and cowboy boots. A duck on stilts resting in two miniature rowboats. And an ending that leaves me wondering more than a little bit, and thinking I need to look at each picture way more closely than this word girl usually does.
Each illustration is accompanied by the beginning of a story. The story that matches the front cover, for instance…
ONCE UPON A LINE
an explorer found a path to a new and strange planet
Should she stop exploring or keep going?
She finally decided to…
Another page, which features a performing circus frog…
ONCE UPON A LINE
there was a reluctant circus performer. /
He was tired of getting stuck in a hoop, /
and feathers made him sneeze, so he decided to…
And of course you know I'd find the dog painting and story…
Once upon a line
a dog thought she was a cat.
But why did she make barking noises and ignore mice?
One day she suddenly noticed…
A key at the end identifies the line in each picture.
One of those books I am pretty sure I will buy and re-buy and re-buy.
2 comments:
This sounds wonderful, Carol. I'm glad you shared a review or I might not have known about it! Thanks!
Looks like it will make a great gift! I know just the family to give it to. Thanks, Carol!
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