Nature's Paintbrush: The Patterns and Colors Around You - Hardcover

Stockdale, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689810814 ISBN 13: 9780689810817

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1999

Synopsis

From flower petals to a toucan's bill, this brightly illustrated picture book introduces beginning readers to the many shapes and colors seen in the animals and plants of the rain forest.

About this title

About the Author:

Susan Stockdale worked as an art gallery manager, a special events coordinator, and a public relations director before becoming a full-time mother and artist. She also freelanced as a textile designer for the apparel industry, which gave her an opportunity to express her love of pattern and color. Today her use of pattern and color is a distinctive feature of her artwork. Booklist praised her first picture book, Some Sleep Standing Up, for the way its "...pure acrylic colors feature simple shapes often filled with delightful design work that will appeal to young eyes." For Nature's Paintbrush Ms. Stockdale did extensive research and consulted with several zoologists and biologists. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two children, and a patterned cat.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 2Stockdale explores the ways in which the patterns and colors found in nature help plants and animals survive. For example, the tigers wavy stripes allow it to blend in with its surroundings and hunt undetected, and the circular pattern of flower petals attracts bees to the flowers center where they spread pollen. Each page or double-page spread begins with a question (e.g., Have you ever noticed the eyespot near the tail of a butterfly fish? or Have you ever been pricked by a cactus?) followed by a brief, lyrical explanation. The large, colorful, acrylic paintings have a compelling silk-screen appearance and are the strongest feature of the book. While the author successfully encourages young readers to examine nature more closely, she doesnt provide a focus beyond the usefulness of patterns and colors. For example, a spiders web is discussed on the same spread as the mottled skin of a rattlesnake, despite the fact that these two things serve vastly different functions. Carolyn Ottos What Color Is Camouflage? (HarperCollins, 1996) provides more thorough coverage of camouflage.Jackie Hechtkopf, University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0689810814
• ISBN 13: 9780689810817
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Stockdale Susan