School Library Journal Starred Review (Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

PreS-Gr 3 Using watercolor and colored pencils, Col&3;n has created a wordless book (based on his childhood) that speaks volumes. A boy, home for the day perhaps because of an illness, sits on his bed reading a book about Africa. He begins to draw. Five identical, intensely colored pictures of the boy with an easel, art supplies, and a pit helmet increase in size as readers begin this richly imagined day on a safari. He draws an elephant as an egret watches, and atop the elephant's back, the boy and bird find a herd of zebras. They pose for him as he sits on a stump. Giraffes thunder by, raising clouds of golden dust. The boy draws them, his body aslant as his eyes follow them. He draws a gorilla, who holds his helmet and shares his sandwich. He draws lions, a water buffalo, and a hippo before sighting a charging rhinoceros. Running with all his might, he barely escapes the rhino. Baboons retrieve his pencils, set up his easel, and draw him. They also eat his sandwiches as the day slides into evening. A spread poignantly captures the parting of boy and elephant. Eyes closed, he lays his head against his friend's side while the elephant's trunk gently caresses the boy's cheek. As six identical paintings decrease in size, the book returns to the boy's pale room, now strewn with drawings. The final scene shows the boy at school, holding the elephant's picture front and center. The pleasure the boy takes in making and sharing his art is palpable. Young artists will love this book, as will all children who know the joy of exploring their own imaginations. A must-have for every library.— Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

ALA Booklist

%% This is a multi-book review: SEE also the title The Art of Making Comic Books. %% The contemporary renaissance of the comic book provided the incentive for these two books.Gr. 48. Pellowski's is the one with staying power, offering a peek at the history of the comics and some sense of the kinds of skills that go into their making. Traditional comic book elements, writing, and formatting are discussed, with a lengthy chapter on the creation process--from assembling equipment and character conception to penciling, lettering, and cover art. Full-color photos, drawings, and reproductions from actual comics make the text very inviting, and Pellowski's obvious enthusiasm will send readers sprinting off to the nearest comic book or art supply store.Gr. 47. Reinagle's book, for a slightly younger audience, will also attract kids with comics on their mind, especially if they like fantasy. A drawing how-to, this presents budding artists with the keys to creating all sorts of fantastic characters inspired by medieval goings-on. Although he's not nearly as exhaustive as Lee Ames is in the Draw Fifty series, Reinagle also uses sequential sketches and basic shapes to build several different kinds of dragons, castles, and swashbuckling heroes. Two particularly nice features of his book are a labeled drawing of armor and a double-spread page of textures and patterns. (Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1996)

Horn Book

A young artist, inspired by his books about African animals, is transported to an imaginary safari in this dreamy wordless book. Armed only with his pencil, sketch pad, and easel, he finds his models in the African landscape--elephant, zebras, etc. The story line is engaging and easy to follow, and Colsn's pen-and-ink, watercolor, colored-pencil, and lithograph pencil pictures are nicely textured.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In Colón-s (Baseball Is...) wordless fantasy, a boy lies on his bed, his sketchbook on the floor; he-s lost in a large book titled Africa. As he takes up his sketchbook and begins to draw, small full-color panels of himself setting off across the African veldt sail forth from his mind like thought balloons. On the next page, he-s entered his fantasy fully; he-s in the African grasslands, carrying his drawing supplies and waving to a nearby elephant. After obligingly allowing its portrait to be drawn, the elephant carries the boy to meet other animals who pose for him-zebras, giraffes, and hippos. A rhinoceros portrait ends in near-calamity; a gang of baboons draw the boy. After a tender goodbye to the elephant, another series of sunlit panels retreats into the boy-s head as he returns to real life. Colón-s visual signature is the use of finely combed lines to trace the contours of his figures, a technique that-s at once delicate and sensuous. It-s a strongly developed and executed account of a childhood fantasy, urging all young artists to dream and to draw. Ages 4-8. Agency: Morgan Gaynin Inc. (Sept.)