Drawing Outdoors

PreS-Gr 2--This engaging picture book presents a different take on the term "remote learning." In an unnamed country, a tiny one-room schoolhouse stands "between two mountains, near a river, in the middle of nowhere." Other than a blackboard and some chairs, its only real resource is a creative and intrepid teacher, who greets the children at the door and tells them that their lessons for the day will be outside. The young explorers, accompanied by a scruffy dog and three chickens, grab their paper and crayons and follow the woman down to the river. Their first sighting is a large brontosaurus that has stopped for a drink, and the kids get busy recording their observations in sketchbooks and on canvases. They next spot a triceratops and a stegosaurus (it's the one with "rocks on its back"). The bright sunny day darkens when a bunch of pterodactyls fly overhead, and lastly, but hardly least, a tyrannosaurus rex roars into view. Some of the kids run back to school, while only the bravest stay and draw. The class wraps up their full and exhilarating day and looks forward to another day at el recreo. Buitrago's simple, straightforward text is elevated and expanded by Yockteng's gorgeous digital landscapes, full of textural and playful details. The giant creatures seem genuinely at home in this lush natural environment, as do the teacher and her class. This clever book is a subtle reminder that education and recreation need not be mutually exclusive exercises and that big ideas happen when you think outside the box. VERDICT A must-have for STEAM classes and for dino lovers everywhere.--Luann Toth

Dinosaurs inspire a day of creativity for the student body of a remote mountain school in this charming translation. Though "our school has almost nothing. A blackboard, some chairs," it does have "a teacher. She's always there." And today, she leads the class, which includes students of various skin tones, on an excursion: "We are explorers, we have paper, we have crayons." In a wonderful moment of unexplained surprise, a purple brontosaurus peeking out between some riverfront trees becomes the students' first subject, and other classics soon become artistic fodder. Presented as a first-person account, the narrative draws its minimal momentum largely from plainspoken dialogue. While it's not difficult to spot the dinos, their positioning and depiction is handled with enough subtlety to provide the feel of adventurous page-turning discovery. Ages 5-9. (May)

"A delightful, short read with humor that young elementary students will love" —Youth Services Book Review STARRED Review

"What is central to this story is the idea that no matter what school a child attends, no matter how many or few the supplies, one dedicated professional can make all the difference."
—Shelf Awareness