At Storyland, we believe the experience of enjoying a great children’s picture book does not end with the turning of a book’s last page. The same goes with how our conversations with children’s book authors and illustrators do not end with the release of each podcast episode.
Last week, Storyland invited Marion Deuchars to join in celebrating the annual Reading Week at a kindergarten in Shanghai through a virtual meet and greet.
Marion is the author and illustrator of Bob the Artist, Bob’s Blue Period, and Bob Goes Pop. In the story, the little blackbird Bob finds his true self through the power of art.
Before meeting Marion through the video call, these kindergarten kids have been reading Marion’s picture books and creating their own art works in the classroom for several weeks.
Look at the amazing art these children have made inspired by Marion’s works!
Our Storyland teachers led storytelling and art workshops where children were able to make their own Bob’s beaks.
In Marion’s picture book Bob the Artist, Bob painted his beak with patterns inspired by Western artists such as Mondrian and Jackson Pollock.
In our classrooms, children got to create paintings and patterns on their paper beaks inspired by Chinese art!
No wonder these children shouted in wonder as they welcomed Marion onto their classroom’s big screen. They were so excited to finally meet the creator of the books they have been reading and making art about!
In the virtual workshop, Marion showed children her process of drawing the characters in her books. She then invited children to tell her about the strange dreams they have had, as Bob had one of the strangest dreams in the story too!
One kid told Marion that he dreamed of a monster eating him up, so Marion created a monster together with the kids.
To thank Marion for sharing her time and wonderful stories with them, each class performed a little poem that the children have been practising for weeks. One of the poems is about Bob!
We Are All Unique
Bob is the bird with the beautiful beak
He teaches us all that we are unique
It doesn’t matter what people say
You gotta be brave and do it your way
He shows us all such beautiful art
It’s special, it’s unique it comes from the heart
Thank you Marion for your wonderful book
There are so many lessons that we have took
Thank you Marion for your wonderful stories and art and connecting with children in Shanghai!
Storyland 