Questions discussed:
Student: Why did the author say: You look up; You look back; Your eyes begin to close....etc.
Me: What genre is the story?
We settled on historical fiction although there are a lot of non-fiction text features. There is an author note at the end of the book explaining that in 1994 a cave was discovered in southern France with drawings made more than 30,000 years ago - 15,000 years older than all he other drawings known at the time. In the cave, they also found a child's footprint and the footprint of a wolf. Good questions ensued: But did a boy really stand in front of a woolly mammoth?
They were also a little perplexed as to whether or not the main character was a boy or a girl. The character wore clothing without a shirt sometimes and had quite long and messy hair.
I loved the ending. Referring to drawing, it says: And it's still MAGIC!
Goodreads says:
Imagine you were born before the invention of drawing, more than thirty thousand years ago.
You would live with your whole family in a cave and see woolly mammoths walk by!
You might even see images of animals hidden in the shapes of clouds and rocks.
You would want to share these pictures with your family, but wouldn't know how.
Who would have made the world's first drawing? Would it have been you?
In The First Drawing, Caldecott Medal winner Mordicai Gerstein imagines the discovery of drawing...and inspires the young dreamers and artists of today.
