WE’RE PAINTING

This exceptional addition to the Harper Growing Tree series is geared specifically towards the preschool set, encouraging their fledgling creativity. In a beguiling combination of instruction and celebration, Snyder focuses on both the technical and imaginative aspects of painting. Amid the more mundane references to rinsing out the paintbrush and cleaning up the inevitable messes are poetic passages describing the art: “Make a stroke. Swirl another. Gentle touch. Glide the brush.” Snyder’s text, while concise, sets reader’s imaginations free; her spare words deftly convey the limitless possibilities inherent in the act of creation. Within the pages, readers will garner a bit of knowledge concerning mixing colors and using their newfound knowledge of shapes to incorporate into their own pictures. Jahn-Clough’s (A Big Bed for Jed, p. 46, etc.) joyful illustrations are a prismatic blend of colors and images. Full-page spreads shift their focus from depictions of two children swabbing on paint to a super close-up of their brush- and artwork. The exuberant text and high-spirited illustrations are bound to inspire would-be Picassos and Cassatts to pick up their brushes and express themselves. (Picture book. 3-6)