A Picture for Marc (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) - Softcover

Eric Kimmel is the award-winning author of several well-known children’s books. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Matthew Trueman grew up in Italy 45 minutes north of Venice. He still lives by the water, now on the Delaware River, with his wife Anna and their cat, Fisher.

Marc Chagall claims he never saw a drawing until age 16, when a classmate sat tracing a magazine picture. Kimmel uses Chagall's memory as the basis for his own story in which a younger Marc first encounters art. After a brief stint of tracing, he begins drawing original pictures, all the while pondering the difference between copying and drawing, the meaning of art, and eventually, the role of artist to show us what is truly beautiful and important in the world. Once Marc realizes his passion for art, he must convince his skeptical parents to let him study with a local art teacher. Trueman's fine black-and-white illustrations capture Chagall's fluid style and appear at regular intervals. Fictional components make the book inappropriate for reports, and the book is more conversation than action, but Kimmel succeeds at making the abstract concept of art accessible to young readers. A list of sources and an author's note are appended. Harold, Suzanne