Squeaky Chalk: And Other Fun Things to Draw (And Do) When There's Nothing to Do!
Grade 4-6-Organized into 67 lessons, this small, spiral-bound book attempts to teach children the basics of drawing while including a smattering of informational vignettes, a muddled story line, and a few simple art projects. News clippings from the Silk City Bee, a fictitious newspaper, are scattered throughout. The articles are all related to the questionable fate of Alexander Hamilton's Silk City, which, readers are told, was founded in 1792 as the country's first manufacturing center. It seems that Professor Thistle plans to invent flying candy and rename the historic district "Candy City." Fortunately, he reconsiders and instead offers balloon rides over the area. The content is disorganized and scattered; children learn to draw the wind, a piece of chalk, a thinking cap, a boy, and a cat in the first five lessons. Without adequate explanations or statements of purpose, flip-flopping from subject to subject results in confusion. Stick with Ed Emberley's drawing books.Ilene Abramson, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.