Bridget's Beret
Kindergarten-Grade 3—Bridget loves to draw, but she needs her black artist's beret as her muse. One day as she is outdoors working, it flies off into the wind, and she believes that her inspiration has flown with it. Other hats don't help and she stops drawing. But when her little sister begs her to make a sign for a lemonade stand, Bridget agrees. Once she starts painting, she finds that the art was inside her all along; in fact, her new paintings are more sophisticated and draw on the works of recognizable artists. Lichtenheld's ink, colored pencil, and watercolor cartoon illustrations, heavy on line and filled with childlike drawings, add humor and character to the story. Combined with Peter Reynolds'sThe Dot(2003) andIsh(2004, both Candlewick), the ideas for inspiration that are included in the back matter would work well for a lesson on artistic expression.—Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada(c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.