My Fingerpaint Masterpiece Review

I’m excited once again to be a participating in the Kid Lit Giveaway Hop in honour of Children’s Book Week, May 12 – 18, 2014.  Mother Daughter Book Reviews  and Youth Literature Reviews  are joining forces.  What better way to celebrate Children’s Book Week?

I have been very fortunate to have Sherrill S. Cannon as my featured author for the week.  She is the rhythm and rhyming master behind 6 books.  You can see our previous reviews for Manner-Man, The Magic Word, and Santa’s Birthday Gift.  She is also the author of Gimme Jimmy and Peter and The Whimper Whineys.

Sherrill is a retired school teacher who lives in Pennsylvania when she isn’t travelling across the country visiting her children and grandchildren who give her ideas for new books. Sherrill S. Cannon’s rhyming is contagious and how she keeps it going so long, I don’t know.

We’d heard a hint of this book while reviewing Santa’s Birthday Gift.  At the same time Tristan had sold his first piece of art.  So we could hardly wait to see My Fingerpaint Masterpiece for ourselves.  The book had perfect timing, arriving on World Book Day.  The kids and I cuddled up on the sofa to read it immediately.

What is My Fingerpaint Masterpiece about?

A child starts a fingerpaint painting at school but doesn’t have time to finish it.  The wind blows it away and circumstance sees it in a gallery competition…and it wins.  The child couldn’t prove it was theirs as it didn’t have a name on it.  The child felt that it won only because the judges couldn’t understand the painting and didn’t want to admit it, but it still made the child upset that it was being praised so highly.

This book has a unique perspective in that it tells the story and shows the illustrations (again done perfectly by Kalpart) from the child’s eyes and so you don’t know if the artist is a boy or a girl.  I like this as both of my children can imagine that they themselves are in the shoes of the artist.

I wonder how many children have lost a masterpiece on the way home from school?

There are some extra bits at the end of the book to help your child get more out of it by searching for items and there are some questions to get your child thinking.

What do my children think about My Fingerpaint Masterpiece?

My children give My Fingerpaint Masterpiece five brushes each, and a big grin as well!  This book is kept in high rotation in the living room within easy reach to be looked at and read on a regular basis.

The kids think it’s fun that Sherrill S. Cannon’s previous book covers make an appearance in this book, as well as former book characters.  Both children enjoyed looking through the book and spotting the books they’re familiar with.  As with her other books, some of the characters are also familiar.  Each of Sherrill’s books can be read on their own, but we enjoy the way that they are also entwined.

The kids had fun trying to see what they could see in the book’s masterpiece, like looking up and seeing shapes in the clouds.

The child in the book who forgot to sign their name to their masterpiece paralleled Tristan not putting his own name on his first masterpiece.  He now makes sure he has at least his initials on his work.

It was also fun for the children to take a trip to the local galleries and see the pieces up this month and talk about them as well.  This was a lovely way to extend the book and for all of us to have an afternoon out and appreciating the talents of others.

After reading My Fingerpaint Masterpiece the children of course wanted to take out their finger paints and get messy with them!

It’s interesting how the artist and the public often see different things in the same piece.  I urge you to let your own little artists loose with some finger paints (or other medium) and let them create their own work of art.  Don’t ask, “is this a ____?”  Instead ask them to tell you the story behind the picture.  I always enjoy listening to my children’s story behind the story.  That’s often more colourful than the picture itself.

Sherrill’s 5 previous books have earned no less than 18 awards.  They’re coming in so quick we can’t keep up with them, and there’s no doubt that this book will be winning awards as well as winning its way into children’s hearts.  Sherrill S. Cannon’s books are addictive.  She has been called “a modern day Dr. Seuss” by GMTA Review.  We’ll be sharing more with you again later in the year.

You can see a sweet video clip from My Fingerpaint Masterpiece:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ByUv0L9kI

Fundraising is close to Sherrill’s heart, and she says, “I am still very active with my SBPRA CureJM Fundraiser, for kids with Juvenile Myositis, an incurable children’s disease, at http://sbpra.com/curejm where 50% of the cost of my books goes to the CureJM Foundation to help find a cure.  I am also opening another Fundraiser for the imbullyfree organization, for kids who are being bullied and the link will be http://sbpra.com/imbullyfree  Manner-Man is the Superhero leader for this group!!!  He even has his own Twitter handle!  @MannerManSBPRA   (Gimme-Jimmy’s a big help too, since it’s about a bully who learns to share.)”