The Pencil

My daughter is home from her first year of college. Time for Mama, Papa and Baby Bear to sit on the sofa for a picture book binge! (4 of 4)

I picked this up because a Goodreads reviewer said it was a superior version of the story I liked so much in Max Amato's Perfect. I'll have to disagree on that though, as this story is much too dark and disturbing. A pencil creates a dog, a cat, a boy and more and more and more. The new creations become increasingly demanding and soon turn on him. His solution unleashes an apocalypse the sort of which I have never seen in a children's picture book, and the resolution seems straight out of a Rick & Morty episode: twisted and sort of sexualized. Bizarre.

Though this book is quite long, I enjoyed it a lot. The plot was witty and easy to follow. A child would find this book rather humorous, I mean I found this book humorous. The conflict does not really appear until near the end of the book, but there is certainly suspense about how the "hero" will solve the problem that has been placed before him. The illustrations make the story, as it is a story almost entirely based off of illustrations. The fact the book starts with no illustrations and transitions to having pictures and then those pictures being colored in makes the whole thing that much more "believable". The writing of the book is easy to read, and it has a very nice flow to it.

This was such a cute read. It is about a lonely pencil who wants to become less lonely, so one day he starts to draw. The illustrations in this book really show what is happening- could be great for a picture walk, even at home. The book itself was about a pencil and what he drew, so it was pretty important that the illustrations be good. The most exciting part was guessing what the pencil was going to draw next! This would really engage students! Especially with all the twists and turns! The pencil decides to draw an eraser- not the best idea, because he keeps erasing everything! The big picture in this book, I think, is finding something you like to do when you are sad or feel alone- drawing could be a great way to release and feel show more better. show less

The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg is a follow-up or companion piece to The Runaway Dinner. The book opens with a lonely pencil who decides to draw himself some companions.

Soon the world is filled with friends — all of whom seem to have demands to make of the pencil. In trying to accommodate all their needs, things get out of hand. And then, things get even worse when an eraser is loosed on the world.

It's an illustration heavy picture book with just enough words for a group read along. It had both of my children in stitches and required multiple re-reads and debates.

This is a fun book about a pencil that can talk and think for itself, and created its own word. The story that the pencil drew shows how to write a story and all the parts of a story. They have character creation, character development, setting, background information, and even a plot being created. The story also had a lot of problem solving and conflict which could greatly help students anticipate what they should do or what will come next. There are several examples of them have problem solving situations. One being the boy wanted a dog so the pencil drew him one and the dog wanted something so he dry what the dog needed. Much later on in the book he draws an eraser and that is when the big situation arises. So he has to come up with show more a solution after tying so many things to stop it from destroying its world. show less

This is an amusing, clever story of a pencil, paint brush, and eraser that come to life and create (or wipe out) a world where inanimate objects, as well as living things, ask the pencil to give them a name (check out the ant on the bottom right of the next-to-last two-page color spread!).

I loved this book! It is all about a lonely pencil who decides to draw things to make him less lonely. Along the way there are interesting twists and turns which makes this a very fun book to read. I really enjoyed the illustrations that we in the book. Because it was a book all about what the pencil drew the illustrations were crucial to the story and I felt that they went perfectly together. The plot was really fun as well, it was very engaging and fun for the children to guess what was going to happen next or what the pencil was going to create next. There were many plot twists along the way as well, such as the pencil creating an eraser that was erasing everything the pencil created so the pencil had to come up with some way to stop it.