pagesofpins's review against another edition
3.0
I really, really like the wise pile of shavings. The puns, story and reveal at the end, meh.
calistareads's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
What a great idea. The pencil is like living life with your own saboteur or self-doubt. That little voice of self-doubt can ruin everything and stop creativity completely. This little story dealt with that so well.
Linus is the pencil and he wants to draw and win a contest and Ernie is his eraser and nothing is good enough for Ernie. Ernie can't let anything be because he knows they can't win. It depresses Linus. Don't each of us have that voice inside we grapple with. I thought this book made a perfect example of that.
Linus does get some help and he decides to just draw and he lets Ernie erase things in patterns. They learn to work together in a way. It sounds like the artist process to me.
The artwork was cool too.
Linus is the pencil and he wants to draw and win a contest and Ernie is his eraser and nothing is good enough for Ernie. Ernie can't let anything be because he knows they can't win. It depresses Linus. Don't each of us have that voice inside we grapple with. I thought this book made a perfect example of that.
Linus does get some help and he decides to just draw and he lets Ernie erase things in patterns. They learn to work together in a way. It sounds like the artist process to me.
The artwork was cool too.
the_knitting_librarian's review against another edition
5.0
Sends the message in a simple and clear way. Wonderful book, unique illustrations.
shighley's review against another edition
4.0
Very colorful, with some clever puns. I think the final art might be a little confusing for kids, because it jumps from pencil/erasures on colored paper to a colorful mosaic.
dawnoftheread's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man, for anyone who has ever really wanted to create, but is hindered by self doubt and a really harsh inner critic...this is the book for you!
little_silver's review against another edition
3.0
This book could be used to explore partnerships, teamwork and perseverance. Also- it abounds with drawing puns!
abigailbat's review against another edition
When Linus the little yellow pencil enters the family art show for the first time, he has a lot of self-doubt, spurred on by Ernie the eraser who thinks nothing Linus does is good enough. They fight each other to the point that neither of them wants to be in the art show anymore, until Linus gets some advice to stop listening to negativity and just draw. Once both Linus and Ernie lighten up, they learn to work together to create art with the most heart of all because they both took part in making it.
This is a cute story with a great message for kids about blocking out self-doubt and creating art for yourself and not based on what anyone else thinks.
This is a cute story with a great message for kids about blocking out self-doubt and creating art for yourself and not based on what anyone else thinks.
panda_incognito's review against another edition
3.0
Some reviewers thought that this book was disturbing, or were confused by the arguments between the pencil and his own eraser. However, I didn't see it as an object with a double identity, but as a struggle between Linus and his inner critic. This book works best as a metaphor, and even though I'm not sure how much children will connect with it, the illustrations are lovely and provide great ideas for artwork.