The First Drawing

[Gerstein’s] illustrations are colorful and dramatic.– Library Media Connection “The story offers a creative approach to get kids thinking about that paradigm shift into artistic representation…Use this in an art class to spark consideration of the time before fingerpaints, refrigerator art, and even sidewalk chalk.”–BCCB “Echoing the simplicity of cave drawings with simply sketched figures, Gerstein enhances them with expressive pen-and-ink detail and luminous acrylics and colored pencil, in hues from pure sky blue to firelight.”–The Horn Book “The line, acrylic, and colored-pencil art, which fills up each spread, has the buoyant feeling of discovery and is clever in the way it turns imaginings into pictures. A way to think about the start of art.”–Booklist “Gerstein’s acrylic, pen-and-ink and colored-pencil mixed-media illustrations create depth and a sense of the past, as well as imparting liveliness and possibility…Solid storytelling, satisfying narrative circularity, and masterful, creative illustrations make this an inspiring story for young artists.”–Kirkus *“Gerstein’s mixed-media spreads feature a mostly blue and brown palette, and thin, rainbow-hued brushstrokes add texture and vividness….Artists see the world differently, but Gerstein suggests their true gift lies in allowing others to share in their visions.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review) *“In this compelling picture book, Gerstein invites children to travel back in time more than 30,000 years to a cave in what is now southern France….Gerstein’s illustrations of rocks, clouds, and shadows cleverly conceal animal shapes that both readers and the protagonist are compelled to discover.”–School Library Journal (starred review) “The much-admired illustrator Mordicai Gerstein performs a persuasive bit of magic in The First Drawing…[he] uses delicate ink over rough colorful acrylics in a visual echo of the way the fineness of artistic sensibility might have arisen in primitive Stone Age culture”–The Wall Street Journal Fall 2013 Parents’ Choice Award2014 CCBC Choices ListChildren’s Book Committee at Bank Street College 2014 Best Book of the Year Fall 2013 Parents’ Choice Award2014 CCBC Choices ListChildren’s Book Committee at Bank Street College 2014 Best Book of the Year

Mordecai Gerstein studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and has designed and directed animated films. He is the author-illustrator of many books for children, including Stop Those Pants! Mr. Gerstein lives in western Massachusetts.

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