We are excited to be taking part in Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2015. We were asked to review a multicultural book and create an accompanied activity to help get families engaged in reading. We were extremely fortunate to be given a copy of My Fingerpaint Masterpiece (affiliate link) by Sherrill S. Cannon.
My Fingerpaint Masterpiece is told from the point of view of the main character who is never portrayed. You get glimpses of their hand and a shadow of a face. It is left up to the reader whether the child is a girl or a boy and what nationality they are. This is a deliberate and ties into the books main theme of perception and perspective. Sherrill wanted her illustrations to appeal to all children and they have been illustrated from a multi-cultural perspective.
The story is a creative rhyming tale about how a child’s unfinished art project becomes an award winning painting on display. The book raises issues about abstract art and how beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We loved the cleverness of the illustrations. You see the book in a new light when you hold the book upside down. There are also many hidden objects that can be seen when the book is the wrong way round.
To accompany the book we decided to create our own fingerprint masterpiece. We made homemade edible finger paint following the recipe on Imagination Tree. Our Wilton Food Colouring
Adam enjoyed mixing the food colouring into the cornflour, however, he did not want to touch the paint. Cornflour was obviously a step too far and too messy for him. So instead he used a teaspoon to spoon the paint onto the paper.
After 20 minutes of exploring colour mixing and how to create small blobs and big blobs of paint onto the paper Adam actually did a small amount of fingerpainting.
Adam’s masterpiece may not be featuring in any art gallery soon but he thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating his fingerprint masterpiece.
More information about the author:
Sherrill S. Cannon is a former teacher, mother of four and a grandmother of ten, who is also an Award-Winning Best-Selling Author. In less than five years, her books My Fingerpaint Masterpiece, Manner-Man, Gimme-Jimmy, The Magic Word, Peter and the Whimper-Whineys, and Santa’s Birthday Gift have received twenty-eight 2011-14 National and International awards. Most of her books try to teach something, like good manners and consideration for others. All of her books are also part of a fundraiser for both imbullyfree.org and CureJM Foundation. Sherrill is also the author of seven published and internationally performed plays for elementary school children. She is a resident of New Hope, PA and travels with her husband of 54 years throughout North America in their RV, sharing her books along the way.
What a fabulous literacy extension! We love books with little hidden twists to them.
Love Adam’s fingerprinting and the great colors you created. Thanks for celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day with us !!!