Draw! by Raul Colon

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Colon, Raul. Draw!. New York: Simon and Schuster Books, 2014.  ISBN 978-1-4424-9492-3


2.     PLOT SUMMARY

A young boy is sitting on his bed reading a book about Africa. With an inspired mind, the boy begins to draw what he sees inside his mind. As he be gins to draw, the images get larger and larger until the bedroom has been replaced with the sights of the African wilderness. The boy waves down an elephant to draw. The elephant allows the boy to ride on his back after enjoying his portrait drawn by the boy. With the elephant at his side, the boy draws a group of zebras. Giraffes run past the artist in a flash. He spy's on lions from the safety of a tree and a  gorge. He almost ate his sandwich before he thought about gorillas and had to draw one first. His journey continued as the sun begins to set. He begins to draw a charging rhino and escapes danger in a tree. When he finally gets to eat his sandwich, he allows the monkeys to try drawing him.The boy says goodbye to the elephant as the sky begins to darken. The boys drawings grow smaller as you leave his imagination and find him still sitting in bed.


3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The book shows the power of imagination by giving the audience a journey into the mind of a boy. He embodies the spirit of small children by not shrinking from danger and allowing a sense of adventure into his decisions. The boy is able to control the animals in his imagination to allow him to be able to connect with the animals. This power allows a sense of security and safety for the boy by the readers. When the rhino begins to charge in the reader's direction, it adds a threat to both the reader and the artist.

The comic book style panels add an urgency to the charge when compared to the large double full page pictures of the previous images. The suspense created with the charge is alleviated to laughter when the artist escapes dangers. The readers learn the ease to which the mind can travel within our own imaginations.

The world of reality in the narrative has muted colors. Much of the page is white and grey. When the boy begins to draw, the colors become strong and saturated. There are flowing lines throughout the art in Africa that remind me of fingerprints. The lines give the pages a sense of movement as if you can feel the strong breeze on the savanna.


4.     REVIEW EXCERPTS

From School Library Journal: “Young artists will love this book, as will all children who know the joy of exploring their own imaginations. A must-have for every library.”

From Publisher's Weekly: "It’s a strongly developed and executed account of a childhood fantasy, urging all young artists to dream and to draw."

From Booklist: "A true celebration of where our imaginations can take us."

From Horn Book: "A marvelous wordless adventure."


5.     CONNECTIONS

Other books by Raul Colon:
Orson Blasts Off. ISBN 9780689842788

Lesson Plans:
Teaching My Friends is a great blog for teaching the upper grades in elementary school. I teach students across all ages, and it is important to remember that picture books are useful to students of older ages. Find the wordless lesson here: USING WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS

Valorie Gresser has over 150 individual lessons posted on Betterlessons.com for children in elementary school. She offers a two day lesson on wordless picture books. Find it here: First Grade Inferring Lesson

Reading A-Z has a simple wordless book lesson for elementary age students. I enjoy the different variations provided to concentrate on grammar, phonics, vocabulary, and writing. Check it out here: Wordless Books Sample Lesson