Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Sleeping Bear Press (2008), Edition: 1st, 32 pages
Description
In art class, neatness, conformity, and imitation are encouraged, but when Willow brings imagination and creativity to her projects, even straight-laced Miss Hawthorn is influenced.
User reviews
LibraryThing member dnati
This book follows Willow, a very creative and expressive girl who struggles to "color inside the lines", as she tries to get her art teacher to live a little and see life in a different way. She is painting pink trees and blue apples when her art teacher specifically instructs the children to draw
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an apple tree with a brown trunk, a green circle for leaves, and red dots for apples. This book really captures the need for a zesty imagination and how much fun things can be if we all saw things a little more like Willow. Show Less
LibraryThing member lmaddux
Encourages children to be different and not try to fit into the crowd.
LibraryThing member kimpiddington
Charming tale of a dreamy student whose creativity and open mindedness at first vexes and then inspires her teacher, Miss Hawthorn.
LibraryThing member attebb
Willow's art teacher is an awful woman who never allows children to be creative or imaginative. She expects all children to paint exactly as reality says to and is awful to Willow when Willow doesn't give in to her strict ways. One Christmas though, Willow gives her art teacher a gift and it
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inspires the teacher. Soon afterward, Willow and her fellow classmates return to school from break and discover their art teacher has discovered her own creativity and imagination and they all paint just like they wanted to in art class. This book is good-natured and it is definitely an uplifting story that creativity, individuality and respect. The illustrations are very colorful and fun to look at and helps detail a story about a little girl who refuses to conform to the art teacher's ways. Show Less
LibraryThing member DiamondDog
I'm afraid this book is going to get missed, and I so wish that it wouldn't. Denise Brennan-Nelson is a Michigan children's author who needs attention! Brennan-Nelson posses a unique skill: the ability to teach adults as well as children with the words she writes and stories she tells. Willow is no
There art books like Patrick McDonnell's Art, Antoinette Portis' Not a Stick and The Dot by Peter Reynold's that help nurture a child's creativity, but there are few that awaken lost creativity in adults. Willow is a free spirit with a mind of her own and lots of creativity to spare. Unfortunately her art teacher is a curmudgeon who attemps to stifle Willows flare. Willow, oddly enough, does not bend, and Miss Hawthorn's exterior melts enough to allow a spark of life to glow.
Excellent for K-3rd grade. Older children, or those reading on their own, might be interested in Clementine by Sara Pennypacker or Lois Lowry's Gooney Bird Greene.
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exception.There art books like Patrick McDonnell's Art, Antoinette Portis' Not a Stick and The Dot by Peter Reynold's that help nurture a child's creativity, but there are few that awaken lost creativity in adults. Willow is a free spirit with a mind of her own and lots of creativity to spare. Unfortunately her art teacher is a curmudgeon who attemps to stifle Willows flare. Willow, oddly enough, does not bend, and Miss Hawthorn's exterior melts enough to allow a spark of life to glow.
Excellent for K-3rd grade. Older children, or those reading on their own, might be interested in Clementine by Sara Pennypacker or Lois Lowry's Gooney Bird Greene.
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LibraryThing member breksarah
Willow is a charming story of a young student who helps her own art teacher regain her creativity in a class that gone bland. The art teacher never allows children to be creative. Willow doesn't give in to her strict ways. Willow gives her art teacher a gift and it inspires the teacher's own
This is a great book to use to teach students the importance of never losing your creativity. it is a fun story to share with kids of all ages. I like that the student was able to help the teacher find something she appeared to have "lost" within herself.
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creativity. This is a great book to use to teach students the importance of never losing your creativity. it is a fun story to share with kids of all ages. I like that the student was able to help the teacher find something she appeared to have "lost" within herself.
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LibraryThing member rdg301library
This is the story of a young girl who loved to express herself in creative ways; however, she had a nasty art teacher who always told her she was wrong. After receiving a present from Willow, her student, her whole mood and outlook on life changed and she became free and allowed her students to
This is an age-appropriate story that provides students with insight in their own possible problems and relationships. This book tells a good story with convincing characters. The theme of this book emerges naturally and is not stated in the story. It is important for kids to see adults model that it is okay to be yourself and express yourself however you want to.
Reading Level: K-3
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
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express themselves however they wanted to. This is an age-appropriate story that provides students with insight in their own possible problems and relationships. This book tells a good story with convincing characters. The theme of this book emerges naturally and is not stated in the story. It is important for kids to see adults model that it is okay to be yourself and express yourself however you want to.
Reading Level: K-3
Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
Miss Hawthorn's art class is very structured and leaves little room for mess, coloring outside the lines, or any kind of imagination. But one student, Willow, just can't keep her enthusiasm for artistic creativity bottled up and keeps following her own direction instead. When Willow leaves an art
Willow is a sweet book about expressing one self's and thinking outside the box. Miss Hawthorn is perhaps just a bit too much of a caricature to me -- she is so very rigid and angry in the beginning of the book and, as an adult, it was difficult for me to imagine that an art teacher had never seen a book about art before. I think it would have fit better if the gift (and the thoughtfulness of it) re-awakened a more child-like spirit in Miss Hawthorn, reminding her of past experiences and why she loved art in the first place. But perhaps that's just me.
While it's not overly emphasized, I think the message about the kindness of Willow despite her teacher not responding in measure is an interesting one for opening up conversations with children about when it is (or is not) appropriate to "turn the other cheek." Is a person unkind or rude simply because they are looked over or treated poorly themselves? When is "enough is enough" if that person repeatedly rejects attempts to befriend them? Of course, the bigger message here that is greatly emphasized is about being creativity and allowing art to serve as a medium to express oneself -- not as a medium to simply copy another's work. This is an important lesson as well, especially for those kids who fall into the trap of thinking too rigidly. However, this book could easily slip into dangerous territory by promoting the idea that listening to a teacher's directions is simply unnecessary at all times, making me think again that perhaps a less caricaturish approach would have served this book better.
The soft illustrations in the book are perfectly fine and make the book a deeply colorful one. For the most part, these illustrations simply show exactly what the text describes, but the full-page illustrations do contain some more interesting details here and there. I did not care for the rather one-dimensional look of the characters myself, but they are executed well and, for better or for worse, are fitting with the one-dimensional nature of the characters described in the text.
Overall, I thought this was a good enough read to share with young children, but not necessarily an excellent one. That being said, however, there might be specific contexts in which this book would serve a purpose or function particularly well.
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book behind as a holiday present for Miss Hawthorn, it awakens something in her teacher ...Willow is a sweet book about expressing one self's and thinking outside the box. Miss Hawthorn is perhaps just a bit too much of a caricature to me -- she is so very rigid and angry in the beginning of the book and, as an adult, it was difficult for me to imagine that an art teacher had never seen a book about art before. I think it would have fit better if the gift (and the thoughtfulness of it) re-awakened a more child-like spirit in Miss Hawthorn, reminding her of past experiences and why she loved art in the first place. But perhaps that's just me.
While it's not overly emphasized, I think the message about the kindness of Willow despite her teacher not responding in measure is an interesting one for opening up conversations with children about when it is (or is not) appropriate to "turn the other cheek." Is a person unkind or rude simply because they are looked over or treated poorly themselves? When is "enough is enough" if that person repeatedly rejects attempts to befriend them? Of course, the bigger message here that is greatly emphasized is about being creativity and allowing art to serve as a medium to express oneself -- not as a medium to simply copy another's work. This is an important lesson as well, especially for those kids who fall into the trap of thinking too rigidly. However, this book could easily slip into dangerous territory by promoting the idea that listening to a teacher's directions is simply unnecessary at all times, making me think again that perhaps a less caricaturish approach would have served this book better.
The soft illustrations in the book are perfectly fine and make the book a deeply colorful one. For the most part, these illustrations simply show exactly what the text describes, but the full-page illustrations do contain some more interesting details here and there. I did not care for the rather one-dimensional look of the characters myself, but they are executed well and, for better or for worse, are fitting with the one-dimensional nature of the characters described in the text.
Overall, I thought this was a good enough read to share with young children, but not necessarily an excellent one. That being said, however, there might be specific contexts in which this book would serve a purpose or function particularly well.
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LibraryThing member lissabeth21
What a wonderful story about life, art, and being true to yourself!
Awards
Comstock Read Aloud Book Award (Honor — 2009)
Kids' Book Choice Awards (Finalist — 2009)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Picture Books — 2010)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2011)
Mom's Choice Award (2009)
Children's Favorites Awards (Selection — 2009)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
11 x 9 inches
ISBN
1585363421 / 9781585363421