Chalk

This is a wordless book kids can really get their teeth into.

Heh. I couldn't resist. On a gloomy, rainy day, three children find a bag of chalk in the park. Magical chalk, that makes their drawings come alive. Of course, one kid can't resist drawing...you guessed it, a tyrannosaurus! After a frenzied chase, one child has a bright idea and the dinosaur is defeated. The chalk is left behind for another child to discover the magic, and the three children leave.

Thomson's illustrations, created from acrylic paint and colored pencils, have a slick surface and vibrant depth and movement. He perfectly captures the complete absorption in art, imagination, and magic that only a child can display, and the children's range of emotions from wonder show more to terror, are spot on at every point. I am specifically in love with the illustration of the butterflies coming alive on the concrete and the children's exuberant delight as they swirl up into the sky.

This book, by the way, is the kind of picturebook I'd like to see more of when I think of adding "multicultural" picturebooks to my library. The three children represent different races and genders, but they are caught in a moment of magic and excitement that any child can understand and empathize with. I was also glad to see that each child played a major part in the story - many picturebooks are starting to show minorities, but mostly as what I call "background diversity"; as a best friend, part of a class, or a neighbor, not as an important character in the story.

Verdict: Highly recommended for public, school, and personal libraries. Display it with books on dinosaurs, art, and imagination. Have children tell the story to you in storytime. Show it to your after school kids and then have a giant chalk drawing program. show less

Three children find themselves on the playground one rainy afternoon, and discovering a bag of chalk hanging from one of the rides - the dinosaur ride! - they begin to draw. To their surprise and delight, whatever they draw is magically made real: a sunny day, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Now, on the run from their creation (well, the boy's creation, in any event), they must find a way to undo what they have done...

Chosen as one of our January selections for the Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme is "wordless picture-books," Chalk is an engaging tale of adventure, ably carried along by Bill Thomson's acrylic and colored-pencil illustrations. I appreciated many of the details of these paintings: show more the young African-American girl's hands, when she picks up the chalk, the young boy's backward glance, as the friends leave the park. I wasn't disturbed, as some reviewers seem to have been, that it is the boy's actions which both precipitate and resolve the crisis. All in all, this is one I recommend to any young reader who enjoys wordless picture-books! show less

personal response: Amazing book! Normally I am not interested in realism and realistic art styles, but for this story I can't imagine the images being as effective if done in another form. This is especially true for my favorite image of the dinosaur melting away. It would be neat to see a more mature version of the story and have, instead of a dinosaur and butterflies, the great Cthulhu (H.P. Lovecraft) and a hoard of zombies.
preschool and up

curricular connections:
Great book to use to spark imagination and creativity. This book also presents parents a great opportunity for their very young children to tell them a story.

Chalk by Bill Thomson is a great book for children in the lower grades of elementary school. This book follows three children on their adventure through a park. The main idea of the plot is that the three children come across a bag of magic chalk. Whatever the children decide to draw with the chalk, becomes a reality. This instantly reminded me of another Bill Thomson wordless picture book titled, The Typewriter. The both have similar characters, the same illustration style and main idea. I give this book 9/10 stars because it is a very captivating book for young children. A teacher can guide his or her students through the book, asking questions as they go along, pointing to a picture and asking something like, "How do you think the show more character is feeling right now?" I would highly recommend this book and would love to have this book in my own classroom. show less

Thomson, Bill. Chalk. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010

Characters: Three children- 1 boy and 2 girls

Setting: a rainy day at a park

Theme: wordless book, imagination, drawing

Genre: Children’s fiction, wordless picturebook

Golden Quote: Not applicable

Summary: A wordless picture book about three children who go to a park on a rainy day, find some chalk, and draw pictures that come to life.

Audience: Grades 1-3

Curriculum ties: language arts- narrate/write a story to the correspond to the pictures, create a writing prompt based on events in the book
Awards: Buckeye Children's Book Award for 3-5 (2011); Connecticut Book Award (Children's Illustrator) (2011); ALA Notable Children's Book (2011); IRA Teacher's Choices (2011); show more Kentucky Bluegrass Book Award (2012)

Personal response: I absolutely love this book! Bill Thomson takes something as simple as chalk and transcends it into something magical. On a rainy day, three children discover a bag of chalk hanging from a playground dinosaur spring rider and from there; the adventure ensues into something they never expected. As they use the chalk to draw, their sidewalk art starts to come to life and so do their imaginations…and to the edge of extreme danger! There is a clear message to be careful for what you wish for because you just might get it (which is not always a good thing). Bill Thomson’s illustrations are amazing; so lifelike they look like photographs. The artwork is so realistic and rich that both children and adults will find new details every time they encounter this book. I highly recommend this story for dinosaurs lovers everywhere. show less

This book reminded me of a great musical masterpiece in which a simple melody can turn into a wonderful work of art with just many independent sections that are tied together by one common factor. It was a sequence of settings that the children were able to create using a stick of chalk and their imagination. Ultimately, using one's imagination can spark a great work of art, and functional technology as exists today in the US, but also can be a dangerous endeavor when people are given too much power to create; they created a beach first, and after realizing that power that they had, ended up creating a living dinosaur There was no specific plot, but the imagery was so captivating and detailed, that I didn't need words to experience it.

This book reminded me of a great musical masterpiece in which a simple melody can turn into a wonderful work of art with just many independent sections that are tied together by one common factor. It was a sequence of settings that the children were able to create using a stick of chalk and their imagination. Ultimately, using one's imagination can spark a great work of art, and functional technology as exists today in the US, but also can be a dangerous endeavor when people are given too much power to create; they created a beach first, and after realizing that power that they had, ended up creating a living dinosaur There was no specific plot, but the imagery was so captivating and detailed, that I didn't need words to experience it.