A sweet little story about how Tomie became an artist. As a young kid, who was constantly creating myself, I could relate. ( )

Cute, autobiograpgical picture book from a beloved children's author. I'm sure some parents will gripe that Tommy breaks rules and still gets what he wants in the end: to use his own special crayons to draw an original picture in art class instead of copying the art teacher's example using school supplies. But for those who can get past that, here's a story of a boy whose love for drawing is all over his life, whose friends admire his work, with adults who teach him boundaries--no drawing on sheets or walls, do the class work first--while appreciating his talent. ( )

This book is about a boy named Tomie who loves art and wants to be an artist when he grows up. When he starts school though, he becomes frustrated with his teacher because she is not letting him do his own art. Eventually he is recognised for his talents by a visiting artist and gets to pursue his dream. ( )

I love Tomie dePaola's art, but this (autobiographical?) story didn't do it for me. The child's love of drawing, and his focus on it, are great. But school ends up looking demoralizing and deadening -- no art teacher "this year" (kindergarten); then when she comes they get one piece of paper, regulation crayons, formulaic and non-creative lessons -- it's art by rote. The lessons he receives from his cousins -- art students -- are that "real artists don't copy", which is utterly untrue: Real artists copy all the time, and in fact, copying is one of the fundamental ways we learn art, or anything else. As a depiction of a kid that has a passion, and has to learn to compromise to explore his passion, the story works pretty well. ( )

Very cute story and beautiful illustrations of Tomie De Paola's beginning as an artist. ( )