A boy named Tommy loves to draw with his Binney & Smith Crayola crayons, and these pictures hang on his side of the room, in his mother's kitchen, at the barber shop where his father works, in the store of his Irish grandparents and in the home of his Italian grandmother Nana. Tommy? Nana? This work of picture-book fiction is really a gem of an autobiography, and readers familiar with dePaola's work will find wonderful, well-placed clues to his lifetime of artistry among these pages. Tommy starts school, and can't wait for the day when the art teacher comes. But there are a couple of hitches: the paints at school are cracked and powdery (and blow right off the paper''), and the art teacher only lets the children have one piece of paper, on which tocopy'' her drawings. Tommy, who has been told by his aunts (twins, who are artists) that real artists never copy, has a crisis. But his teachers (including Tommy's regular classroom teacher) show themselves to be far more understanding than readers could have predicted, and all ends well. Inventive and revealing, dePaola provides a lyrical blend of text and art. This is an inspired and childlike offering, perhaps one of dePaola's best. Ages 5-8. (Apr.)

K-Gr 2-- Tommy loves to draw. He draws happily through kindergarten, heeding the advice of his big cousins in art school: don't copy, and practice a lot. His admiring family provides appreciation and support, and a box of 64 crayons. School is a let-down: eight-color school crayons, paint that cracks and flakes, one sheet of paper apiece. Then the long-awaited art teacher comes. What a shock: she asks the class to copy her as she draws! Tommy refuses. A compromise is reached: Tommy copies the prescribed drawing and gets another piece of paper for his own picture. The perennial conflict between Individual and Authority, or between Artist and Society, lies behind this anecdote, and it's gratifying to see the small non-conformist accomodated. Everyone can enjoy dePaola's gentle autobiographical evocation of a loving family and a happy obsession. But most kids like to copy, and copying is essential to the discipline of learning. All great artists did it. DePaola's own style is eminently copyable, and this entertaining book shouldn't discourage young artists from drawing a few dePaolas on their way to copying Rubens. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle