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3rd out of 78 books
—
131 voters
Chalk
by
Bill Thomson (Goodreads Author)
Three children discover a magical bag of chalk on a rainy day
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
March 1st 2010
by Marshall Cavendish Children's Books
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Conversation between my kids after reading this book.
5 year old: "I wish magic chalk was real!"
3 year old: "Yes! Maybe I will get some for my birthday! But we can't draw a dinosaur."
5 yo: "Yeah. No dinosaurs. But we could draw a car and going driving."
3 yo: "I will draw books!"
5 yo: "We could give them names and then read them. We could draw Baby Brother's Grizzly and Baby Brother will be so happy that he is real!"
3 yo: "Yeah! And I can draw my princesses."
5 yo: "And I'll draw knights and they w...more
5 year old: "I wish magic chalk was real!"
3 year old: "Yes! Maybe I will get some for my birthday! But we can't draw a dinosaur."
5 yo: "Yeah. No dinosaurs. But we could draw a car and going driving."
3 yo: "I will draw books!"
5 yo: "We could give them names and then read them. We could draw Baby Brother's Grizzly and Baby Brother will be so happy that he is real!"
3 yo: "Yeah! And I can draw my princesses."
5 yo: "And I'll draw knights and they w...more
Dec 17, 2010
Lisa Vegan
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
boys & girls who love dinosaurs and/or making art; kids who are not easily frightened
What a unique and interesting book. The art style is so different. A part of me wasn’t a fan, but I was wowed anyway. The pictures are so realistic, vivid, vibrant, colorful, and creative.
The story, told all via the pictures (this is a wordless picture book) of three children who draw things on the sidewalk with chalk, things that come to life, will be fun for many kids. The dinosaur is really scary though in some of the illustrations. I can see some very young or sensitive kids being scared of...more
The story, told all via the pictures (this is a wordless picture book) of three children who draw things on the sidewalk with chalk, things that come to life, will be fun for many kids. The dinosaur is really scary though in some of the illustrations. I can see some very young or sensitive kids being scared of...more
Thomson, Bill Chalk 40 pages, Marshall Cavendish Children's Books; Language~G, Sexual Content~G; Violence~G
On a rainy day a group of children come across a bag of chalk. One child decides to use it and draws a sun. Magically, the sun immediately appears. The children then realize that this is magic chalk. Each child takes a turn and their drawings come to life as well! This is fantastic until one child decides to draw a dinosaur with sharp teeth. All of a sudden the children are running for thei...more
On a rainy day a group of children come across a bag of chalk. One child decides to use it and draws a sun. Magically, the sun immediately appears. The children then realize that this is magic chalk. Each child takes a turn and their drawings come to life as well! This is fantastic until one child decides to draw a dinosaur with sharp teeth. All of a sudden the children are running for thei...more
UPDATE: My son is constantly checking this out from the library, he loves it! We like to make up our own stories about other magical chalk drawings. Such a great book!
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BRILLIANT! Three kids venture to the park on a rainy day. They find a bag of chalk and unbelievable things begin to happen.
I absolutely love this book because it makes something as ordinary as chalk and transforms it into something incredible. Children have the power to do this with th...more
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BRILLIANT! Three kids venture to the park on a rainy day. They find a bag of chalk and unbelievable things begin to happen.
I absolutely love this book because it makes something as ordinary as chalk and transforms it into something incredible. Children have the power to do this with th...more
Three children find a bag of chalk at the playground. Little do they know that the chalk is magical and what they draw comes to life. Unfortunate consequences occur when one of the children decides to draw a dinosaur. Can they escape being eaten?
This is a beautiful picture book, with photo-realistic illustrations and not one word of text. The whole story is told through the pictures, allowing parents to enter into a conversation with their children. Teachers will also love this book, as it provi...more
This is a beautiful picture book, with photo-realistic illustrations and not one word of text. The whole story is told through the pictures, allowing parents to enter into a conversation with their children. Teachers will also love this book, as it provi...more
Ohio Buckeye Children’s book award winner from 2008-2012 grades 3-5 category (http://www.bcbookaward.info/)
Thomson, Bill. Chalk. New York: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. Print. 40 p.
Detailed, life-like illustrations show readers the happenings of a rainy afternoon at a park. Three children, in their rain gear, visit the park together. In a plastic play equipment dinosaur's mouth is a bag of chalk. The children soon discover this chalk is extraordinary when one of them draws a picture of the...more
Thomson, Bill. Chalk. New York: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. Print. 40 p.
Detailed, life-like illustrations show readers the happenings of a rainy afternoon at a park. Three children, in their rain gear, visit the park together. In a plastic play equipment dinosaur's mouth is a bag of chalk. The children soon discover this chalk is extraordinary when one of them draws a picture of the...more
I have generally avoided wordless books with young children, but Bill Thomson's Chalk was a bit of a slap in the face for me about how incredibly misguided my thinking has been. My students (2 to 5 year olds) LOVE this book (and other wordless novels), and these texts have opened up a new level of discussion and attention to detail in my classroom that was previously engaged on only a minimal level. I have children that use Chalk to enact the role of a teacher sharing a read-aloud, and because...more
Chalk by Bill Thomson is a wordless picture book. The book begins with three kids on a rainy day. Drawing with chalk, the young girl draws a sun and something magical happens. Their chalk drawings come to life throughout the story.
The illustration are modern and life like. They seem are very authentic and full of detail and bright colors. They do a great job of telling the story, despite the lack of words. The illustrator uses the style of realism. This book lack words, but still follows literar...more
The illustration are modern and life like. They seem are very authentic and full of detail and bright colors. They do a great job of telling the story, despite the lack of words. The illustrator uses the style of realism. This book lack words, but still follows literar...more
Three bored children, a rainy day, a mysterious bag of sidewalk chalk and their imagination…this is the opening illustration of Bill Thompson’s wordless picture book Chalk. What the children discover inside the bag is only limited by their own imagination. They soon find that what ever they draw instantly comes to life. They turn the rainy day into a sunny day, cause butterflies to spring to life from the pavement and begin an adventure in the park that is fun, funny, and at times frightening. W...more
Ah.... A nice rest for Auntie's voice. :-) I typically don't check out wordless books to "read" to the kids because we do a lot of our reading in the car while we wait for their mom to get off work. The car's dome light isn't the best light for a book that really requires the readers to study the pictures in order to spin the tale, but now it's staying lighter later, I thought we'd give Chalk a try.
The pictures are beautiful, which is good, and some of the pictures appealed to my niece (the butt...more
The pictures are beautiful, which is good, and some of the pictures appealed to my niece (the butt...more
Chalk, a wordless picture book, by Bill Thomson is a creative and colorful selection. Thomson’s illustrations are bright and detailed images. Each page is drawn by hand using paint and colored pencils. Each detail is pronounced and the images look like photographs. The characters have realistic facial expressions that enhance the story. In the story, each drawing comes to life becoming part of an easily understood story line without the use of words.
Readers can clearly see what the characters...more
Readers can clearly see what the characters...more
1 like · like · see review
I really like the pictures in this one despite the sort of over exaggerated facial expressions of the children, especially the maniacal girl vignette that I've heard several people object to. To me, they go with the sort of surrealistic style of both the artwork and the story. The variety of perspectives and detail of the colors pencils make it reminiscent of both Van Allsburg and Wiesner's work- certainly fine company. It's a very creative story with nice illustrations but I do have a couple of...more
Jan 07, 2011
Crystal Marcos
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
dinosaur lovers, wordless picture book lovers
My husband, daughter, and I read Chalk together. Let me start by saying I really enjoy wordless picture books. We had high hopes for the book, but it didn’t live up to our expectations. Don’t get me wrong, Chalk’s illustrations were quite impressive and very different, almost life-like. I guess you could say they are not our cup of tea. The story is simple. Children find chalk and draw pictures which come to life.
I usually flip through a book before reading it to my daughter, but didn’t this tim...more
I usually flip through a book before reading it to my daughter, but didn’t this tim...more
2 likes · like · see review
I've never read a wordless book before! The ideas for use in the classroom are just rolling! This book is stunning!
The absolutely gorgeous, jump off the page, illustrations in this book were done with acrylic paint and colored pencils. Three children walking through the park on a rainy day find a bag of chalk dangling from the mouth of the playground dinosaur ride on toy. The children use the chalk to draw pictures, which begin to magically transform the day from rainy to warm and sunny, inviting them to draw yet more pictures. These pictures leap off the sidewalk in quite a dramatic way, leading the childr...more
Feb 02, 2012
Taylor Moore
added it
Chalk was an excellent picture book for young children. Although Chalk did not have any text at all, it was really easy to follow along with the story. This book emphasizes creativity by the portrayal of three children who find some chalk and start drawing, only to find that the pictures they draw come to life! I thought it was really cute when they drew the sun, and they all looked at the real sun in awe. Like Elizabeth said, I did not really like that they decided the chalk was too dangerous a...more
Summary: A wordless picture book about three children who go to a park on a rainy day, find some chalk, and draw pictures that come to life. First child draws a sun, the sun pops up into the sky. Next child draws some butterflies that start flying all over. Last child draws a T-rex that come to life and tries to eat them. They hid in the jungle gym. The clever boy takes some chalk and draws a raincloud. The rain reappears and washes the dinosaur away. They are safe, return the chalk, and walk ho...more
The wordless picture book Chalk is pure imagination.
The story of a group of kids finding some magic chalk on a rainy day is told in Bill Thomson's incredibly detailed artwork. The art was created using traditional methods; no computers involved. Thomson painstakingly planned and executed each illustration by hand, using a good ol' paint brush and colored pencils.
In addition to the outstanding artwork, Chalk is also a cleverly told story. The magic chalk comes to life when the children draw with...more
The story of a group of kids finding some magic chalk on a rainy day is told in Bill Thomson's incredibly detailed artwork. The art was created using traditional methods; no computers involved. Thomson painstakingly planned and executed each illustration by hand, using a good ol' paint brush and colored pencils.
In addition to the outstanding artwork, Chalk is also a cleverly told story. The magic chalk comes to life when the children draw with...more
Do you remember your mom hustling you outdoors on a Saturday morning, just after the rain stopped? Did you bump into your buddies (whose parents had also pushed them out the doors after being cooped up inside for SO long?) and head for the park together?
A mysterious gift hangs from the T-rex statue in the park. Is it a coincidence that when the first child draws the sun with the yellow chalk, the sun breaks through the lingering rain clouds and beams brilliantly down upon them?
Is it merely imagi...more
A mysterious gift hangs from the T-rex statue in the park. Is it a coincidence that when the first child draws the sun with the yellow chalk, the sun breaks through the lingering rain clouds and beams brilliantly down upon them?
Is it merely imagi...more
Feb 08, 2012
Katie Ellis
added it
As I have expressed before, I really do not like books that do not have words. However, out of all of the books without works, Chalk is definitely not the worst I have ever "read." The book is about three children that find a bag of chalk on a rainy day, and everything they draw comes to life. The book takes a drastic turn when the boy draws a dinosaur and it tries to attack them. It is only when the children decide to draw rain again that the dinosaur disappears. Then the children put the magic...more
Nov 17, 2011
Candice
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Sophie - when she is older
Shelves:
picture-books
Here's another book that parents should take a look at before showing it to their children, as some sensitive children might be scared by a few of the pictures. That being said, I thought this was a wonderful book. It is wordless, so the pictures tell the entire story of three children who, on a rainy day, visit a park and find a bag of chalk hanging from the mouth of a dinosaur ride. One little girl takes a piece of chalk and draws the sun on the sidewalk - and the sun comes out! This is no ord...more
A young girl asked me the other day, "But is it real?" Young kids are working hard to figure out what belongs to the world of just pretend and what belongs to the "real world". We want to help them make those distinctions, and yet ... and yet... Don't we also want to help them see the magic of our imaginations, the magic in our own real worlds? Chalk, by Bill Thomson, is an amazing wordless book that embraces and celebrates kids' imaginations in a very real way. It's one of my standout books of...more
Jul 12, 2012
Tiffany Jolly
added it
Chalk
Fiction: picture story book. Dinosaurs, adventure
Thompson, Bill. Chalk. Illus by Bill Thompson. NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2010, unp, primary.
In Chalk, follows 3 children who find a bag of chalk in a dinosaurs mouth and from there they create magical situations using the chalk. Thompson’s work is done using acrylic paint and pencil sketches that are exceptionally detailed using a bold style that allows children to pick up on the humorous tone.
Activity: Show to an older age group such as seco...more
Fiction: picture story book. Dinosaurs, adventure
Thompson, Bill. Chalk. Illus by Bill Thompson. NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2010, unp, primary.
In Chalk, follows 3 children who find a bag of chalk in a dinosaurs mouth and from there they create magical situations using the chalk. Thompson’s work is done using acrylic paint and pencil sketches that are exceptionally detailed using a bold style that allows children to pick up on the humorous tone.
Activity: Show to an older age group such as seco...more
Age: 4-8
Genre: Wordless picture book
Diversity: Multiracial characters
Illustrations: Brightly colored and detailed images. Great facial expressions drive the story. Depictions of imagination come to life allow the story to be easily understood without any words.
Personal response: I enjoyed this story immensely. I recently used this book in my storytime with three year old children and they enjoyed telling me about what was happening in the pictures.
Curriculum: This would be a good book to use fo...more
Genre: Wordless picture book
Diversity: Multiracial characters
Illustrations: Brightly colored and detailed images. Great facial expressions drive the story. Depictions of imagination come to life allow the story to be easily understood without any words.
Personal response: I enjoyed this story immensely. I recently used this book in my storytime with three year old children and they enjoyed telling me about what was happening in the pictures.
Curriculum: This would be a good book to use fo...more
Another wordless gem blending childhood with magic, Bill Thomson's Chalk has photo-realistic art and a mundane opening to lull you into a false sense of normalcy. But the chalk discovered on a rainy playground by three children is anything but normal. A quickly sketched sun dries up the real rain and monarchs crawl out of the pavement to flutter past the astonished friends.
Of course, when drawings are coming to life, there are certain things you shouldn't draw, and the last friend sketches out...more
Of course, when drawings are coming to life, there are certain things you shouldn't draw, and the last friend sketches out...more
This story is about chalk, not just any ordinary chalk, magical chalk. Do you have any of that kind of chalk? Well, this magical chalk, when you draw a picture with that magical chalk, any picture you like, be careful, don't draw a dinosaur or a dragon, because these pictures come to life. And don't draw a shark either. Here is why you shouldn't draw any dangerous creatures. Would you want a dinosaur to bite you? Do you want the dragon to breathe fire at you? And if you want this magical chalk,...more
A few children find a bag of magic chalk hanging from the mouth of a playground dinosaur ride. They discover that when they draw things on the ground they come to life. The illustrations/pictures are very vivid and have a kind of surreal quality to them. Overall, I really liked the book however, two of the close-ups of the children's faces were somewhat psychotic/maniacal. The story (wordless) in Chalk is fun but I think parts may be a bit scary for younger children especially when the kids in t...more
This incredibly-illustrated wordless picture book is sure to delight! Most of the time I was reading it, my mouth was gaping open. On a rainy day, three children begin to draw with some sidewalk chalk. As they draw, their images come to life: a sun, butterflies, and a dinosaur (scary!), who eventually washes away when the clever little boy draws a rain cloud inside the playground. The children leave behind their bag of chalk, sure to be found and imagined with by another group of kids. Just an a...more
3 likes · like · see review
Jan 24, 2012
Sara Presnell
added it
Chalk was a picture book in which the story was told through illustrations with no words. Nodelman would definitely like this book, because there were two clear oppositions. There was the rainy, gloomy world compared with the magical world that could be created with the chalk. The book shows the pleasures of innocence that children can have by showing that children can go to parks by themselves and pick up random boxes in the street. I really liked this book. I do not usually like books without...more
This book was an instant attraction to my son because of the colorful cover. However, when we opened it and saw there were no words it caught him off guard. This book is about children who find a dinosaur with a bag of chalk and when they draw pictures the pictures come to life. I think this wordless book could work well for many ages in just the fact that students could write their own story according to the pictures. Children lose their sense of imagination once they can start to read the word...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Dot Books: Ea...: Watch this book trailer for Chalk | 1 | 1 | Oct 21, 2012 02:19am | |
| Red Dot Books: Ea...: See Think Wonder? | 1 | 1 | Oct 21, 2012 01:55am | |
| Red Dot Books: Ea...: What Makes You Say That? | 1 | 1 | Oct 21, 2012 01:49am |
Bill Thomson lives in Southington, Connecticut with his wife, Diann, and their three sons, Billy, Nik, and Ethan. Bill has illustrated Karate Hour, Building With Dad and Baseball Hour, all published by Marshall Cavendish and written by Carol Nevius. Bill's first solo book, CHALK, was released in the spring of 2010. He recently collaborated with Carol Nevius again for Soccer Hour (Spring 2011). Bi...more
More about Bill Thomson...
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Dec 20, 2010 08:23am