Module 15 Draw Me a Star

Summary:  This book starts with an artist.  Everyone in the story makes a request of the artist, something they’d like for the artist to draw.  The star wants a sun, the sun wants a tree, the tree wants a couple, so on and so forth.  In the end the star takes the artist on an adventure.  Impression:  I read about this book in our discussion this week and was intrigued by a children’s picture book that could be controversial.  When I read the book, I completely understood the point.  Take the illustration out of context, and it’s quite scandalous.  Read it within the context of the story, and it is an entirely different matter.  I understand that it could be an Adam and Eve allusion, but it sure seems like the story would not be changed to have drawn some clothes (or fig leaves for that matter) on them.  Suggestions for library setting:  Based on the letter from Eric Carle in the back, this could certainly be a springboard for a biography unit where the students interview a family member or write about a special family memory of their own.

Carle, Eric. (1992).  Draw me a star. New York: Philomel.

DRAW ME A STAR  A remarkable, quintessentially simple book encompassing Creation, creativity, and the cycle of life within the eternal. Introduced on the title page as a toddler drawing the first of five lines to make a star, an artist ages until, at the end, he's an old man who takes hold of a star to travel the night sky. Meanwhile, the first star says, "Draw me the sun"; the sun says, "Draw me a tree," and so on: woman and man; house, dog, cat, bird, butterfly, flowers, cloud; a rainbow arching over the middle-aged artist's whole creation; and back to the night and the stars. Carle's trademark style--vibrant tissue collage on dramatic white--is wonderfully effective in expressing the joy of creation, while the economy with which he conveys these universal ideas gives them extraordinary power. Yet the story is disarmingly childlike, concluding with an ingenuous letter from the author with instructions for drawing an eight-point star. Thanks be to the book for asking Carle to "draw" it!

Draw me a star.  (Sept. 1, 1992).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from:
      http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eric-carle/draw-me-a-star/

A young boy is told (readers are not sure by whom) to ``Draw me a star.'' The star then requests that the boy draw it a sun; the sun asks for a ``lovely tree,'' and throughout his life the boy/man/artist continues to create images that fill the world with beauty. The moon bids the now-elderly artist to draw another star, and as the story ends, the artist travels `àcross the night sky'' hand-in-hand with the star. This book will appeal to readers of all ages; its stunning illustrations, spare text, and simple story line make it a good choice for story hour; but older children will also find it uplifting and meaningful. Especially pleasing is a diagram within the story, accompanied by rhyming instructions on how to draw a star: ``Down/ over/ left/ and right/ draw/ a star/ oh so/ bright.'' An inspired book in every sense of the word.

Larkin, E. (1992).  Draw me a star (Book Review).  School Library Journal, 3880.