Young at Art: Teaching Toddlers Self-Expression, Problem-Solving Skills, and an Appreciation of Art » (REV)

Susan Striker has been an art educator for more than twenty-five yearsand currently teaches elementary school art in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the recipient of Connecticut's Celebration of Excellence Award for Creativity in the Classroom and has been named a Distinguished teacher by the Greenwich public schools. In addition to the Anti-Coloring Book series, she is the author of Please Touch. She lives in Easton, Connecticut.

From the creator of the bestselling Anti-Coloring Book series with more than 600,000 copies sold, a new parenting guide to encouraging creativity in preschool-age children

Young at Art is the first and only comprehensive book for the general audience about the nature, value and impact of art on very young children. Directed towards parents and educators of one to five year olds, Susan Striker explains why children's art is not a frill, but the very foundation upon which all later fundamental skills are built. She drives home the idea that encouraging children's artistic growth will have beneficial effects on all other aspects of their emotional and intellectual development.

At the core of this practical guide is the understanding that art is an important tool in teaching young children crucial concepts related to self-expression, reading and writing. As opposed to more structured exercises, such as coloring on dittos and underlining pictures in workbooks, Striker stresses that scribbling and free drawing experiments are the most important art activities a child can engage in; they better prepare children to read independently as they grow.

Young at Art provides descriptions for age-appropriate art activities, tips for carrying them out safely, and helps parents recognize what a child's art work should look like at each stage of development. With Young at Art, parents will develop realistic expectations of their children's work, learn how to speak to their children about their art, and facilitate skills well beyond their creativity that will benefit children.

Library Journal

Art educator Striker, best known for her popular "Anti-Coloring Book" series, here outlines numerous ways to help toddlers experience art. Interestingly, while she stresses thinking "outside of the box," Striker still offers "Ten Cardinal Rules for Teaching Creative Art." These generally conflict with our societal norms (e.g., Rule No. 6 says, "Never give a child coloring books. There is no value for a child completing something another person created"), so they may be hard for some parents to swallow. She also provides suggestions on how to comment encouragingly on children's artwork, but they seem oddly neutral. Rather than saying how pretty a cloud is, for instance, the author proposes remarking on the sketch's color and shape because the child may not have drawn a cloud at all. Striker, too, is opposed to the use of safety scissors, which may make some preschool teachers uncomfortable. This work would have also benefited from more defined and colorful illustrations and photographs (only black-and-white pencil sketches are present). But while the author's progressivism can be off-putting, Young at Art will give larger public libraries and those supporting childhood educators an important alternative to the many "copycat" pattern books on the market. Readers will indeed find value in Striker's comprehensive bibliography of art books and resources for young children, charts for educators about artistic concepts, and ideas on making art connections. Recommended. Lisa Powell Williams, Moline P.L., IL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.