Chalk by Bill Thomson

Chalk by Bill Thomson

Thomson, B. (2010). Chalk. Marshall Cavendish

Modern Fantasy; Graphic Novel

          Chalk is a graphic novel, a story told without any words to read. Once I opened the book to start reading, I was fixed on figuring out the story by the use of the illustrations. I came up with the following story:

       One rainy day, Jasmine, Sarah, and Chris decided to walk home through the school playground. While walking they came across a bag hanging from the mouth of the dinosaur sling rider. Chris picked up the bag and they all looked inside. Inside this mysterious bag were pieces of chalk. Jasmine took the yellow piece of chalk and drew a sun on the blacktop of the playground. But this was no ordinary chalk, for as soon as she finished drawing a sun, the sun rose from the picture up into the sky, clearing up the rain and pushing the clouds away. Sarah got excited, so she took the next piece of chalk and drew butterflies all over the ground. Before she could finish drawing the last butterfly, the air was filled with them fluttering all around Chris and Jasmine. The kids were so excited to have discovered such amazing chalk! It was not Chris’s turn. He removed a green piece of chalk and drew a dinosaur. And to no surprise, there stood a dinosaur right in front of them! They were so scared they ran from the dinosaur, into the jungle gym to escape its big jaws. They all huddled inside the tunnel of the jungle gym. They didn’t know what to do, the dinosaur was after them. Suddenly Chris had an idea. He drew a cloud with rain droplets coming from it. It begin to rain, washing the dinosaur away. All that was left was a puddle of green from the wet chalk, where the dinosaur once stood. Jasmine and Sarah piled the chalk back into the bag, and Chris placed it back in the mouth of the dinosaur sling rider. They walked away, continuing home, leaving the bag of magical chalk for the next kid. The End.

This book teaches children to explore their imaginations. Not only must you imagine what the book is about from the pictures, but also the book tells an imaginative story about magical chalk drawings coming to life. Students can explore this book by writing their own story to go along with the pictures, or creating their very own graphic novel for someone else to create a storyline.