Do you love to draw? If you answered yes, or if you haven’t yet discovered your inner artist, you should check out this great new picture book called The Art Collector by Jan Wahl. It’s all about the joys of making art.
January 23rd is Chinese New Year. To learn more about the traditions of this holiday, check out A New Year’s Reunion by Yu Li-Qiong and Zhu Cheng-Liang. This award-winning book is about a young girl who celebrates the new year with the special members of her family.
It’s finally snowing where I live and it feels like the perfect day to curl up with a good wintry book! Check out Mameshiba Winter. In this book the cute little Mameshiba characters work together to build the best snow castle ever. And when it’s done, you get to decorate it and act out a Mameshiba story using the stickers and character figures that come with the book.
Canadian author and illustrator Mike Boldt wrote the story in this month’s issue of Chirp. We asked Mike a few questions about his job.
1. Mike, when did you start drawing?
I started drawing when I was 6 yrs old, around the time I started school. I used to take out How to Draw books from the library and scribble for hours!
2. What is your favourite thing to draw?
I love to draw the same things I did when I was a kid: animals, people, made-up creatures and places. I enjoy drawing funny things you don’t normally see, like an alligator wearing a hat.
3. What is your favourite thing to tell kids who want to be story illustrators?
If you are drawing pictures that tell a story, then you already are an illustrator! Now you just need to practise. Draw all the time and draw lots of things. And read lots of books to get your imagination going.
4.What were your favourite books when you were young?
I loved reading books by Bill Peet, a Disney animator, and Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. They had a huge impact on my imagination.
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has written a book! It’s called Burton and Isabelle Pipistrelle: Out of the Bat Cave and it’s all about a little bat named Burton who goes on a wild adventure through the museum one night. The book was inspired by the re-opening of the ROM’s bat cave earlier this year.
Visit the museum bookstore or the online store to purchase a copy of this book. You can even meet the authors of Burton and Isabelle Pipistrelle: Out of the Batcave at the ROM on October 15th, 29th, and 30th. For more information, please contact the ROM.