The Art of Miss Chew (utgåvan 2012)

Patricia is a very talented young artist, but seems to be having trouble in school because she can't seem to pass her tests. Before she knows it, time is up and she hasn't been able to finish them. He favorite teacher notices her struggle and allows her extra time to complete them and suddenly she is passing them all. He also notices how talented she is at drawing and recommends she meet with Miss Chew, the school's art teacher. It is in Miss Chew's art class that Patricia learns the language of art and the reality that she has a reading disability.
This book is the author's own story of her favorite art teacher and how much she helped change her life. It is a great story about the power of one teacher. it shows that struggles in school can be overcome and that even if one thing may be very hard, there is always something else that we can be very good at. ( )

recommended for: everybody, especially teachers, art students, kids who have learning differences

Oh, when the inside front and back covers and book dedication already had me close to crying, I knew this was going to be one of the Patricia Polacco books where I’d be sobbing my eyes out, or feeling like doing so, and those are the books by her that are my favorites. And this one is now among my favorite books by one of my favorite picture book authors.

Thanks so much to Abigail I own a copy (I hope Abigail read this before she sent it, and if not luckily has another “great Polacco book” left to read) and I was able to read this in advance of official publication. I am so grateful. What a great present! (And the term present has meaning in the book too.)

Very interesting to me, I’m not normally a huge fan of Polacco’s art by itself, but enjoy it in relation to her stories. In this book, about her journey as an artist, and containing pictures of drawings and a painting reflecting work she did as a young person, in addition to the story’s paintings, I enjoyed the artwork in this book more than in any other Polacco book, and I’ve now read all her books. I really liked all the artwork in this book. I particularly liked the drawing of her cat within the painting of her cat, but I liked the art on all the pages.

The story is one of Polacco’s best, and as is typical is autobiographical, and as usual had me near tears.

Her account shows the importance of art, of the arts being taught in schools, and how both good and bad teachers can have a lifelong influence on children.

The book’s description field has an excellent summary of the story so I feel no need to repeat any of that, but I’ll say it can’t quite capture the wonderful emotional tone Polacco manages to create in her telling.

Love the story, love the art, and appreciate the author-illustrator sharing her life’s experiences with today’s children. In addition to pure enjoyment derived from reading/viewing this book, I can see it (and many of Polacco’s other books) being emotionally and practically helpful to so many readers.

This book can and should (in my opinion) be enjoyed by everybody but I particularly recommend it to all teachers and school administrators, reading specialists, art teachers, aspiring artists and established artists, kids who struggle with reading or learning differences, and writers who are thinking of writing autobiographies and biographies for children. It’s hard to pick a reading age range for this book. Although it is wonderfully and fully illustrated, it is text heavy. I’d say for read aloud age 5 and up is okay, through age 11, and for independent reading I’d say (depending on the person) ages 8 or 9 through 13 and then all the way up. I’m way into adulthood years and I loved it. I’d like to see this book in every K-8 school library.

I definitely recommend it to all the usual suspects, all my friends, of all ages, who enjoy children’s picture books. ( )

Prolific picture-book author and artist Patricia Polacco turns once again to the events of her own childhood in The Art of Miss Chew, offering a poignant tribute to two teachers who played an important role in her development as a young artist. Returning from a summer spent with her artist-grandmother in Michigan, young Trisha longs to explore her own talents in that direction, but discovers that her school has no full-time art program. Her teacher, Mr. Donovan, who finds a solution to her test-taking difficulties, also recognizes her artistic potential, and sends her to the high school for special classes with Miss Chew. All goes well, until Mr. Donovan must return to Ireland for his father's funeral, and the substitute teacher, uninterested in helping Trisha to cope with her learning disabilities, insists that the art classes are the cause of her academic troubles. Can Trisha hold onto the classes that have brought her so much pleasure - classes that have taught her the art of seeing? With Miss Chew in her corner, absolutely!

As is often the case with Polacco's books, I was very moved when reading The Art of Miss Chew, and found myself sniffling a bit, as I came to the end. The importance of good teachers, to a child's development - although this is billed as a tribute to Miss Chew, I think it's clear that Mr. Donovan was just as important, in his way - is clearly highlighted in the story, as is the importance of art (and musical) education, something that is currently very much under threat in our educational system. I thought it was very telling that, through her art classes, and the new way of seeing that they open up for her, Trisha gains a better understanding of how she reads, and the specific area in which her difficulties lie. I was also struck, while reading, by the fact that both of these influential teachers are recent immigrants - Mr. Donovan comes from Ireland, and Miss Chew from China - since the perception these days, I sometimes feel, is that immigrants don't bring a lot of value to the communities they join. Nothing could be further from the truth of course, in an immigrant culture like ours! All in all, this is another lovely book from Polacco, well worth seeking out, both as a story of a young girl realizing her artistic potential, and as a reflection on the importance of a well-rounded educational curriculum. ( )

This is a good solid story about giving a girl a chance to realize her potential and overcome obstacles. Polacco had a reading learning disability in the 60's and ran into trouble getting support for it at one point. There also was no art instruction available in her middle school at all. How things have changed! Even with a depletion in money for the arts, I don't know any middle school that doesn't even have a very basic art curriculum.

The illustrations are happy and Polacco does a good job of relaying the feelings of the characters through their expressions. I don't think she is as good with body language but it's not too bad.

But there are a lot of things I found not as good about this book. First of all, I don't like how black and white it is. Two good teachers were amazing and always encouraged her and even when they did something wrong it was still great. For example, the art teacher called her Theresa from day one and never stopped. Most people would have a problem with this, especially an adolescent, but Polacco remembers this fondly.

The bad teacher, is horrible, evil even, because she is elderly and from a very different educational era and doesn't understand learning disabilities and how to accomodate them. There is no acknowledgement of this. In fact, at one point Polacco says that in a school meeting the woman scoffed and then proceeded to read an awful lot into that one noise, saying "as if she" and "maybe even." That feels very vindictive to me. This woman is so punished she is sent out of the school and never able to even be a substitute there again for any class. (How would Polacco, a middle-schooler, know that?)

I'm also not as fond of Polacco's illustrations as others are. I think they are competent but I am not overwhelmed. I don't like that she sketches them out first and then watercolors them in. This is just a style thing but I think she makes too many sketch strokes so it looks messy.

I also think her perspective is off. At one point the art teacher and the girl are in front of an easel and both, including their feet, are at such an angle they look like they are falling over. In another place, a person's body parts aren't in proportion and the angles of the people in the picture don't mesh with the furniture and with gravity. There were hands that were just not drawn well too.

I feel she just hurried it along like she had a deadline to meet. She is obviously capable. The flyleaves have examples of her drawings that are much more competent although nothing strikes me as particularly more advanced than a really good art 101 student.

So, 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 because of the black and white thinking. ( )

This is a good solid story about giving a girl a chance to realize her potential and overcome obstacles. Polacco had a reading learning disability in the 60's and ran into trouble getting support for it at one point. There also was no art instruction available in her middle school at all. How things have changed! Even with a depletion in money for the arts, I don't know any middle school that doesn't even have a very basic art curriculum.

The illustrations are happy and Polacco does a good job of relaying the feelings of the characters through their expressions. I don't think she is as good with body language but it's not too bad.

But there are a lot of things I found not as good about this book. First of all, I don't like how black and white it is. Two good teachers were amazing and always encouraged her and even when they did something wrong it was still great. For example, the art teacher called her Theresa from day one and never stopped. Most people would have a problem with this, especially an adolescent, but Polacco remembers this fondly.

The bad teacher, is horrible, evil even, because she is elderly and from a very different educational era and doesn't understand learning disabilities and how to accomodate them. There is no acknowledgement of this. In fact, at one point Polacco says that in a school meeting the woman scoffed and then proceeded to read an awful lot into that one noise, saying "as if she" and "maybe even." That feels very vindictive to me. This woman is so punished she is sent out of the school and never able to even be a substitute there again for any class. (How would Polacco, a middle-schooler, know that?)

I'm also not as fond of Polacco's illustrations as others are. I think they are competent but I am not overwhelmed. I don't like that she sketches them out first and then watercolors them in. This is just a style thing but I think she makes too many sketch strokes so it looks messy.

I also think her perspective is off. At one point the art teacher and the girl are in front of an easel and both, including their feet, are at such an angle they look like they are falling over. In another place, a person's body parts aren't in proportion and the angles of the people in the picture don't mesh with the furniture and with gravity. There were hands that were just not drawn well too.

I feel she just hurried it along like she had a deadline to meet. She is obviously capable. The flyleaves have examples of her drawings that are much more competent although nothing strikes me as particularly more advanced than a really good art 101 student.

So, 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 because of the black and white thinking. ( )