Having discovered Eric Carle only in my early 30s, as a newly born reader, with access to world class titles, I loved the simplicity of his books. I loved the serious messages that were enveloped in amazing artwork using words that were instantly recognisable and repeatable for young kids.
I don’t think I have ever met a child who hasn’t read The Hungry Caterpillar or the Mixed-up Chameleon. Reading his famous titles aloud, you see a pattern – a pattern of serious, thoughtful messages made very simple for young readers, perhaps even readers who can only listen.
So when I ordered “The Artist who painted a Blue Horse” – I wasn’t sure what to expect. Okay, I expected a blue horse. But what was it about? I tend not to read reviews of picture books before I buy them – because I want to discover the book and their meanings myself.
As an adult, you can read this book standing by the door, when the postman drops it off. In 11 spreads and less than 50 words, Eric Carle has opened up the horizons for every young artist. Without saying anything in so many words, he has shown the children of today and artists of tomorrow that there is nothing right or wrong about art. Art is what you want it to be – an expression of your own inner thoughts, ideas and maybe suggestions to the world. Unconventional art and radical science becomes commonplace as years go by.
If you are reading to a young child, you have the opportunity not to point out the right colours for the animals. Instead, allow them to come up with more ridiculous combinations. The brushes have been unshackled, the palette has been freed from its colour-dips. Mix them up, make new colours, paint the world in a colour that has no names.
If you are buying this for a child that can read on its own, it would be a delight to explain that artists have no rules and boundaries. Perhaps I’d even buy it for a kid that cannot draw or paint and wants to write or sing. Show them the world beyond convention.
As a picture book writer myself, I salute the master. Not for the colours, or the simple drawings, which I do appreciate. And not just for the message he has put into this book. I salute him for making such a huge statement, a declaration of independence for young creators, in such a simple way.
Go buy the book. It is worth the experience of freedom.
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