Teachable Texts

26. Emily’s Art by Peter Catalanotto

July 22, 2009 at 9:09 am Leave a comment

Retell: Emily loves to paint.  She enters her painting of her dog Thor in the school art contest.  After narrowly losing the contest, Emily vows never to paint again.  With her help from her friend Emily realizes that she should continue doing what makes her happy.

Topics: art, contests, friendship, school, painting, self-esteem

Units of Study: Realistic Fiction, Talking and Writing About Texts, Social Issues

Tribes: attentive listening, appreciations, personal best

Reading Skills: inference, making connections, interpretation

My Thoughts: I feel like I’m coming across a lot of books about young artists lately (see post on Ish).  I’m a big fan of books with illustrations that not only support the text but enhance it.  At the beginning of the book the illustrations of Emily are vivid and opaque.  However, as soon as she loses the contest, the illustrations of Emily are transparent, conveying the idea that she feels alone and invisible.  Another cool feature about Emily’s Art is how the book begins.  It reminds me of the Harry Potter films.  The story begins with a scene that draws the reader into the story and then like the opening credits in a movie, the title page appears.  I plan on using this book early in the year when we do a lot of community-building.  It’s a great book for showing how far appreciations can go.

Entry filed under: Male authors, Picture Books, Uncategorized. Tags: appreciations/no put-downs, art, contests, friendship, inference, interpretation, making connections, painting, personal best, realistic fiction, school, self-esteem, social issues, talking and writing about texts.