BAD DRAWER

Even if you can’t draw, you can still tell a good story—with a little help.

Told as a doleful and humorous monologue that often directly engages readers, the book begins with several unillustrated pages and a lament that the unseen narrator is very bad at drawing despite lots of practice. The narrator includes a stick figure animal drawn with markers as well as a forest of pine trees (“The only thing I know how to draw…but that’s because it’s basically a scribble”) as evidence of their poor artistic ability. The narrator does have other skills, such as making the best cookies. But being bad at drawing means the narrator can’t bring to life their imagined adventure about “a mouse named Bailey who rides a half-cat half-bird named Catbird, and how they save the mouse kingdom from invading wand-wielding dragons!” What’s worse, the narrator has several talented friends who can draw hot air balloons, cats, birds, and dragons—wait! Perhaps the narrator can exchange cookies for illustrations. This artwork begins with basic, childlike drawings, then shifts to monochromatic, portfolio-worthy scenes by the friends. Readers then see polished thumbnail sketches and, finally, a fully rendered and colorful spread worthy of a great graphic novel. Adding to the fun, several friends of the author contributed their talents: Jessixa Bagley, Armand Baltazar, Anna Bond, Travis Foster, Tillie Walden, and Ethan Young. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A creative story with a sound message: If at first you don’t succeed, ask a friend for help.