School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-Liza loves her crayons, but she has a bit of a one-track mind where color is concerned. She classifies the whole world according to the shades she finds in her crayon bucket. When she runs out of paper, she takes the next logical step and colors on the wall, prompting her mother to take away her drawing tools for the rest of the day. The situation looks bleak (and literally gray, in the illustrations), until Liza goes for a walk and discovers the colors of the natural world. Mud, leaves, bricks, and petals become her new media as she assembles life-size collages wherever she goes. It comes as no surprise when she declares at bedtime: "I think I can go one more day with no crayons." There is no shortage of picture books that celebrate artistic creativity, but this one has an interesting twist. So much of childhood art is commoditized and children spend so much time inside that the invitation to look to nature for both inspiration and materials is a refreshing one. This title could also serve as an introduction to modern art (Liza inadvertently creates a Jackson Pollack mud puddle at one point) or be paired with Barbara Cooney's Miss Rumphius (Viking, 1982) for an artsy Earth Day celebration.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.