oliver jeffers

This week we read the book A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and reflected on the concept of being children of books.

What does that mean?

As avid readers, the children are reading in a different way, often getting lost in colorful stories or informative text. They have grown as readers in powerful ways. We must notice and celebrate this growth. Reflection is an important part of their process. I invited them to draw a portrait of themselves as readers. 

We studied the illustration techniques of Oliver Jeffers. He was our mentor.

We can learn from techniques authors and illustrators use in their work.

We noticed his characters have. . .

Skinny arms and legs
Sometimes no mouth!
Expressive bodies, movement
Color
Large noses and tiny eyes
"Cartoonish" features

1. We read books written by Oliver Jeffers and looked closely at his illustrations. These books connected to their reflections as readers as well as our ongoing community work.

 

2. Using their noticings, the artists practiced drawing a "reading portrait" in the style of Oliver Jeffers. They used copies of his work to guide them and whiteboards for practice. Soon their whiteboards were covered with oval faces, little ears, and tiny hands clutching books!

 

 

3. With sharpies and watercolor pencils, the children drew expressive and colorful reading portraits. You will notice a book in each reader's hand!

Their reading portraits are framed in titles, because they truly are children of books.