A Piece of Chalk

by Jennifer A. Ericsson, Michelle Shapiro (Illustrations)

A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES in an ordinary box of chalk... What would you do with a brand new box of chalk, and a whole driveway as your chalkboard? What would you draw? This little girl draws a red brick wall for starters, then a yellow sun, a brown bird and more. Watch her create a magical picture, as she adds details with each turn of the page. But what happens when a gray cloud rolls in, and rain turns her creation into a colored puddle? With delightful artwork and a deceptively simple text, this picture book perfectly captures a child's creativity, and resilience.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime, Drawing

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2007

About the author

Jennifer A. Ericsson is a children's librarian, the author of a number of picture books, and the co-author of the popular The Everything Kids' Puzzle Book series. She lives in Concord, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about the magic that can happen when a child is creative.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was found by my picture book buddy, who loaned it to me because she knows I participate in the Chalk-a-bration at the end of every month, hosted by Betsy Hubbard at her Teaching Young Writers blog. A little girl works hard to draw a beautiful picture on her sidewalk, and even in the rain, everything turns out beautifully. The illustrations are sweet, including pets, green grass and blue sky, a perfect day for chalking.

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sweet, but nothing special. The illustrations are cute and the text isn't too long--but it just didn't connect with me.

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl creates a colored chalk drawing on her driveway. www.hcpl.net

[Kansas]

AFG

[Erika L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for SH Family Storytime today! The letter of the day was C and we talked about all of the different sounds that the letter C makes. This was a great book to go over colors with the kids. I asked questions all throughout like, "What else is green?" and "What do you think will happen when it rains?" After storytime, we made a mural with a long piece of construction paper and chalk. I also took out some 8 1/2 by 11 pieces of construction paper to make chalk drawings that they could take home if they wanted. A few of the kids even made rainbows, just like in the book. One of the kids had me close my eyes, led me to the mural, and then said, "OPEN YOUR EYES! Look what we made you!" It was pretty adorable.

[The Library Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

This echoes Don Freeman's The Chalkbox Story, except here it is a little girl with the chalks, rather than the chalks itself. Nice little story that may inspire kids to go outside and draw with chalks of their own.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Call me nit-picky but I probably wouldn't share this book with kids because 1) I would worry they'd try to mimic the little girl's style f drawing and 2) Rain on sidewalk chalk would lighten it or wash it away, not make a rainbow.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl uses her driveway as a chalk board to draw and point out different colors.

[Bisma Kureshy · Rating 2 out of 5]

PB-44
Not a fun read. The character was kind of boring and so was the story.

[Prplpckl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creative story with fun color descriptions that explores the possibilities of one's imagination.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing wrong with this book, other than it's a little boring. There was nothing about it that grabbed me.