The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

A brilliant new Eric Carle picture book for the artist in us all

Every child has an artist inside them, and this vibrant picture book from Eric Carle will help let it out. The artist in this book paints the world as he sees it, just like a child. There's a red crocodile, an orange elephant, a purple fox and a polka-dotted donkey. More than anything, there's imagination. Filled with some of the most magnificently colorful animals of Eric Carle's career, this tribute to the creative life celebrates the power of art.

 (38 customer reviews)

On the surface, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse seems pretty simple and rather plain. For me, it took only a little further exploration and one opportunity to read it to a group of two year olds for this this book to reveal it's brilliance and depth. The illustrations are vintage Carle. The format is large and the colors are bold. The text is very minimal. We start out with a boy introducing himself by saying "I am an artist and I paint...". We are then treated to a variety of animals all in different and totally unexpected colors. We have a blue horse, a red crocodile, a yellow cow, a black polar bear and best of all, a polka dotted donkey. The book concludes back with our young artist stating "I am a good artist".

When I shared this with a group, we started just making all the animal sounds, but it wasn't long before the kids caught on to the fact that these animals weren't the right colors, and that's when smiles broke out all around. When we arrived at the...Read more

The child is an artist painting a blue horse followed by a red crocodile and then a yellow cow. The kid continues to paint other animals using colors like orange for the elephant and polka-dots for donkey drawn from pictures in the mind's eye.

Although the targeted audience is pre-school with a strong message of use your imagination to take you where you want to be, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is much more. Eric Carle pays homage to Franz Marc who painted The Blue Horse in 1911; he died during WWI and a few years later the Nazis banned his work. Readers of all ages will appreciate Mr. Carle's original way to encourage the young artist in everyone to draw your imagination and to showcase the work of a great painter from a century ago while also showcasing his on skills. With a green lion, a black polar bear and a purple fox oh my, this is a terrific creative inspirational.

Harriet Klausner

Generations of children have been captivated by the vibrant illustrations of Eric Carle; The Very Hungry Caterpillar was a favorite of mine as a child, and now my son loves it too. But in "The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse" we find something new. The illustrations still have the bold cut-out feel of classic Eric Carle, but the animals come in unexpected colors. From a blue horse to a purple fox, these familiar animals in unusual guise surprise and intrigue us.

The story is simple but powerful. Short bites of toddler-friendly text tell of a young child with a paint brush, who realizes the value of his art, even though it defies conventions. Messages conveyed include encouraging creativity, valuing oneself, and accepting the unexpected as "different" rather than "wrong."

At the back of the book, we find the story...Read more