The art of Miss Chew

Title:

Author:

Summary:

Describes how a teacher named Miss Chew encouraged individuality, and accepted learning differences, and helped a young student with academic difficulties get extra time to take tests and permission to be in advanced art classes. Inspired by the author's memories of her art teacher.

Physical Description:

1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 29 cm.

Genre:

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Teachers -- Fiction.

Schools -- Fiction.

Individuality -- Fiction.

Learning disabilities -- Fiction.

Artists -- Fiction.

Publisher:

G.P. Putnam's Sons,

Publication Date:

2012

ISBN:

9780399257032

Publication Information:

New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, c2012.

Call Number:

P POLACCO

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002749169	Picture Books	POLACCO	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

After spending the summer with her artist grandmother, Trisha knows she wants to be an artist, too. She's thrilled when her sketches get her into Miss Chew's special art class at the high school. A substitute teacher tells her she's wasting time on art when she should be studying - but fortunately, this is one battle that Miss Chew and Trisha are up for!

This true story shows just how important a teacher can be in a child's life - and celebrates the power of art itself.

Author Notes

Patricia Polacco was born in Lansing, Michigan on July 11, 1944. She attended Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, California before heading off to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, then Laney Community College in Oakland. She then set off for Monash University, Mulgrave, Australia and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia where she received a Ph.D in Art History, Emphasis on Iconography.

After college, she restored ancient pieces of art for museums. She didn't start writing children's books until she was 41 years old. She began writing down the stories that were in her head, and was then encouraged to join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. There she learned how to put together a dummy and get a story into the form of a children's picture book. Her mother paid for a trip to New York, where the two visited 16 publishers in one week. She submitted everything she had to more than one house. By the time she returned home the following week, she had sold just about everything.

Polacco has won the 1988 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Keeping Quilt, and the 1989 International Reading Association Award for Rechenka's Eggs. She was inducted into the Author's Hall of Fame by the Santa Clara Reading Council in 1990, and received the Commonwealth Club of California's Recognition of Excellence that same year for Babushka's Doll, and again in 1992 for Chicken Sunday. She also won the Golden Kite Award for Illustration from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for Chicken Sunday in 1992, as well as the Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility Children's Literature and Social Responsibility Award. In 1993, she won the Jane Adams Peace Assoc. and Women's Intl. League for Peace and Freedom Honor award for Mrs. Katz and Tush for its effective contribution to peace and social justice. She has won Parent's Choice Honors for Some Birthday in 1991, the video Dream Keeper in 1997 and Thank You Mr. Falker in 1998. In 1996, she won the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature. Her titles The Art of Miss. Chew and The Blessing Cup made The New York Times Best Seller List.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 2-4-Readers familiar with Polacco's often-autobiographical work will recognize this picture book as another heartwarming tribute to an adult who interceded when young Trisha was most vulnerable. This time, the author looks back with gratitude to an art teacher. Drawing was the only positive aspect of Trisha's school day, but she was almost robbed of that pleasure by a substitute teacher who tried to remove her from Miss Chew's class. Fortunately Mrs. Spaulding did not prevail, and Miss Chew not only inspired the child's artistic talents but also played a key role in unraveling the mystery of her reading disability and getting her the proper support. Polacco's recall of events in her past is remarkable, and the detailed representational paintings bring to life scenes that evoke both true sorrow and absolute joy. Libraries will definitely want to add this gem to their collections.-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

As she did in Thank You, Mr. Falker and The Junkyard Wonders, Polacco pays homage to an influential teacher from her childhood-in this case, two of them. Trisha's homeroom teacher, Mr. Donovan, who has "a laugh that sounded like bells ringing," realizes that Trisha needs extra time to finish (and thereby pass) tests. He also recognizes her artistic talent and arranges for Trisha to join Miss Chew's high school art class. The girl immediately feels at home under the tutelage of Miss Chew, who is of Chinese descent and whose grace and warmth emanate from Polacco's vibrant portraits (Miss Chew is often seen in brightly patterned dresses and paint-spattered smocks, arms spread wide). Emotionally and artistically, Trisha connects with the woman, who emphasizes the need "to see" rather than merely look at one's subject; Miss Chew also pinpoints the cause of Trisha's reading troubles, though a one-note villain of a substitute teacher threatens Trisha's progress. The joy of artistic creation and the value of teachers who are willing to look outside the box come through clearly in the first-person narrative and Polacco's fluid illustrations. Ages 5-8. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.