REVIEW
From Publishers Weekly
A boy named Tommy loves to draw with his Binney & Smith Crayola crayons, and these pictures hang on his side of the room, in his mother's kitchen, at the barber shop where his father works, in the store of his Irish grandparents and in the home of his Italian grandmother Nana. Tommy? Nana? This work of picture-book fiction is really a gem of an autobiography, and readers familiar with dePaola's work will find wonderful, well-placed clues to his lifetime of artistry among these pages. Tommy starts school, and can't wait for the day when the art teacher comes. But there are a couple of hitches: the paints at school are cracked and powdery (and blow "right off the paper"), and the art teacher only lets the children have one piece of paper, on which to "copy" her drawings. Tommy, who has been told by his aunts (twins, who are artists) that real artists never copy, has a crisis. But his teachers (including Tommy's regular classroom teacher) show themselves to be far more understanding than readers could have predicted, and all ends well. Inventive and revealing, dePaola provides a lyrical blend of text and art. This is an inspired and childlike offering, perhaps one of dePaola's best. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
http://www.amazon.ca/Art-Lesson-Tomie...

The little boy doesn't want to draw like everyone else. His parents encourage him to be creative.

Tommy loves to draw in this book, which a lot of kids do. He finds that when he goes to school he can't start actually drawing until the first grade and doesn't like it very much. This is a good book to read to children because they will know that one day their passion of whatever they want to do can be fulfilled.

A little boy loves to draw. He can't wait to get to kindergarten so he can have art classes. But once he gets there he learns that the art classes do not start until first grade. He eagerly waits until first grade when he can finally attend art classes. The day finally comes and he gets to have his art lesson. Young readers can enjoy this book because they can think about things they can do really well. The author website is http://www.tomie.com/main.html. There is nothing for children or teachers. The website is about the author, his books, and his artwork only.

This is about a boy who loves to draw. Its pretty much all he ever wants to do. He is excited to begin school because of art lessons. When he gets to kindergarten he finds out art lessons dont start until first grade, you only get one paper, you can only use school crayons, and you have to copy. The teachers decide he has to do the same thing as all the other children and if there is time leftover he can have a second piece of paper and draw whatever he wants.