You Can Draw Cartoon Animals

HART, Christopher. You Can Draw Cartoon Animals: A Simple Step-by-Step Drawing Guide. illus. by author. 120p. (Just for Kids! Series). Walter Foster. 2009. pap. $12.99. ISBN 978-1-60058-611-8. LC number unavailable.

Gr 2-6–Hart begins by giving some general guidelines for drawing head and body shapes, and line thickness. Then he demonstrates, step by step, how to draw a variety of animals, both wild and domesticated. He includes an informative paragraph at the beginning of each set of instructions and side notes for some of the steps. For example, on the diagram of how to draw a bear cub a note says, “Make the cub’s teeth small and rounded–never sharp!” The notes help young artists learn what to draw and why. Hart’s style is very similar to that in his “Kids Draw” series (Watson-Guptill). The projects are simple but yield a pleasing result reminiscent of animated characters the target age group might see on TV. Colored boarders at the top and bottom of each page unify the book and add visual appeal. Sure to be a favorite.–School Library Journal, April 2010