THAT BIRD CAN DRAW!

The secret to creating wonderful art? Doing what makes you happy!

The pale-skinned young narrator, a child with chin-length pink hair, a beret, and culottes, paints a picture of Grandpa’s new, fluffy yellow bird, Vera. Left alone with art materials, Vera makes a painting herself. The protagonist’s praise is grudging (“very good…for a bird, that is”), but Vera goes on to produce impressive work in collage and marble. To stymie this potential rival, the narrator allows Vera only very small pieces of paper—with which Vera adroitly creates a mosaic tribute to the Mona Lisa. When Grandpa (a peachy-skinned, white-bearded Monet look-alike) calls Vera “a great artist,” the narrator jealously deprives the bird of paint supplies. But Vera finds housepaint and slaps colorful, cannily spaced, Kusama-like dots over every surface in the living room. Grandpa loves the result, and, realizing that it truly is “a great work of art,” the narrator abandons the artist’s beret and hands it to Vera, who’s nearly swallowed up by it. Then the bird stages an exhibition of the child artist’s work, and it looks “really good on the wall.” Clearly there can be more than one “great artist.” The young protagonist’s resentment and jealousy are all too relatable, while teeny-tiny Vera is a delight, dwarfed by her improbably elaborate creations. Adamson’s perky pastel comic-style illustrations are, for the most part, simple enough to make the tagline’s point: “Anyone can be an artist!”

Amusing encouragement for aspiring artists of all stripes.