Comment

Dec 05, 2012
As the author/illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and many other titles, Eric Carle is one of the most renowned and beloved creators of children’s picture books. The “artist” in this book, however, isn’t Eric Carle. Instead, it’s a young boy, who is happily painting large pictures of animals such as a blue horse, a pink rabbit, a black polar bear, a green lion, an orange elephant and others. As he paints, he proudly announces “I am an artist!” and at the end of the story, he declares “I am a good artist!” The simple, brightly-coloured illustrations in this book will hold the attention of young children, and the boy’s confidence in applying unusual colours to his animals - such as a blue horse - will inspire the creativity of other young artists. In fact, Eric Carle’s picture book is a tribute to artistic creativity and imagination. It’s also a tribute to one artist in particular, the influential Expressionist painter Franz Marc, who died as a soldier during World War I. His paintings were banned in Nazi Germany along with those of various other “modernist” artists. (They were considered to be “degenerate” because they weren’t realistic or traditional.) As a high school student in Stuttgart during the Nazi regime, Eric Carle was secretly shown the artist’s work, which often featured animals painted in bright, unexpected colours – a technique also employed by Carle today in his collage-styled book illustrations. (Franz Marc’s paintings of blue horses are among his best-known creations.) Art students and adults as well as young children would be interested in this vibrant, new picture book from an artist whose work is always distinct, recognizable and thoroughly enjoyable.