Lucy's Picture

by Nicola Moon

Lucy wants to make her grandpa a special picture, but her grandfather is blind, so she decides to make him a picture with twigs, feathers, velvet and sand, so that he can feel it with his fingers. This heart-warming story is perfect for sharing with young children.

Genres: Art, Picture Books, Childrens, School, Family, Health

Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

Reviews

[Saashya Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great initiator for an art project! The pictures in the book are very cute and I'm sure students and teachers will get some great ideas for a creative collage!

[Sophonie Joseph-Canel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! the warmest cleverly written book I have ever read. Lucy is a smart girl who is considerate of her blind grandpa. This book can be read during your circle time for a lesson on social emotional development. As a parent I would read this book to my child so they can understand different people around us,

[Melissa Namba · Rating 5 out of 5]

My nieces love their grandpa so this book will definitely be relatable to them. One niece goes to Preschool and always brings home "art". This book is for her. Hopefully, she doesn't cut her hair to glue to a picture.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is great and very colorful. Lucy was very excited to make a picture for her grandpa but her grandpa can't see. So she made a picture for him out of real and found objects so he can feel it by hand. I think it's a very sweet book and Lucy is so thoughtful of her grandpa.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awww lovely

[Huda Fel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy makes a tactile collage for her grandpa who's got a visual impairment.

[Shilpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this picture book.

[Ryley Christian]

This book is about catering to the needs of a loved one from a little girl's perspective. The narrator, Lucy, decides to make a collage instead of a painting during art time because she wants her blind grandfather to be able to feel her picture. Using sentimental items discovered around her classroom, Lucy makes the perfect piece of art for her grandfather.

The author, Nicola Moon, captures the voice of a loving granddaughter as she describes Lucy's search for the perfect items (ex. "Grandpa has flowers like this in his garden," Lucy told Mrs. Kelly) and portrays her excitement of showing her collage to her grandfather (ex. "She nearly knocked him off his feet.") Although the author does not have a disability, I appreciate that she has written many other children's books. The appealing illustrations by Alex Ayliffe represent a classroom environment most listeners would be familiar with.

As a teacher, I would use this story to teach compassion and creativity. Also, I would use this book to expose my students to blindness and teach them that it is possible to make modifications for those around you who have disabilities.

[Adriana Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started with Lucy at school and their assignment was to paint a picture. She explains that her Grandpa is coming to visit, and she asks her teacher if she could glue things onto her picture, instead of painting it. Being incredibly innovative, Lucy went through the scrap box and found items she outside at recess to make a picture of a lake, hills, and trees. At the end of the day, her mother and her Grandpa came to pick her up from school. She then grabbed her grandpas hand to feel the picture she made, for he was blind. This major theme of this book is to be considerate to your loved ones. My great aunt went blind when I was younger, and this would have been a great gift to make her. I recommend this book because the picture Lucy makes is very creative, and it really gets the reader thinking in order to visualize the picture she created. I really enjoyed the sweet and compassionate ending.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torn paper and collage-style artwork appropriately illustrate this book, echoing the creation process of Lucy’s own art. One page even recreates Lucy’s collage full-size. This would be a good book to use in a one-on-one family reading setting. It gently highlights the different ways someone with a disability might experience the world. Lucy’s small act of kindness keeping her grandpa’s perspective in mind can be a jumping-off point for a discussion on helping others, and would be especially appropriate if there were grandparents with disabilities in the family. In a classroom setting, this would be a great way to introduce collage making and how to experience art through many senses. (Though the page where Lucy sneakily cuts some of her hair to glue on a dog picture would require some reframing!)

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a child, and it is a great book to talk about disability. It is about a little girl who makes a picture for her blind grandfather, and decides to use a different medium to make her picture so that he can enjoy it. I think this would be extremely useful in the classroom as a way to discuss disabilities and the differences between people. There are many activities that could be used in the classroom regarding the five senses and how all the other senses may be affected if one of the others is not as strong. I think this would be an excellent and applicable way to introduce disabilities to children at a young age.

[Deserae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy's picture is a very good children's book that brings to light a very important concept to teach children and that being appreciation for people with disabilities. Children need to be informed of disabilities at young ages because more and more students are being included into classroom that have disabilities and children without disabilities will have questions and if they are not informed about different disabilities they will not know how to react to them and be sympathetic and empathetic with children that have them.

[Tonia Holloway]

I love this book! this is definitely a book that I would put in the Arts Center. The book itself is very colorful and artistic, and for the students who can't read just looking at the pictures can give them a great idea of what the story is about. I think this book is a great book to help introduce the concept of being creative, using art to express themselves and explore different forms of art. After reading this book I would bring in information about other artists who looked outside of the box to make their creations, such as Picasso.

[Latise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Lucy reminds me of myself when I was younger. I really enjoyed creating pictures and sculptures for my mother when I was in elementary school. This is a great book to place in the art center in your classroom; it provides a variety of ideas for students when creating pieces of art. After reading this story, teachers can ask their students about the ways that Lucy showed affection towards her grandfather.

[Lakeira King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very sweet book!I added it under art and special needs. This will be a great book to use to discuss people with visual impairments. I think a great follow up activity will be to actually have the students make a collage of different textures that they could give to a person who is blind. I wasn't expecting Lucy to be making a collage for her grandpa who is blind but that made the book even more awesome.

[Hannah Morrison]

Lucy is a generous character that paints a special picture for her grandpa to feel. I feel it is so important for students to learn about people with different abilities in school so that children do not grow up thinking it is alright to alienate anyone. I would definitely use this as a read aloud in a younger class and we could integrate art creating our own "feel" paintings.

[Kelly Triplett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story to read to students to begin discussions about special needs, particularly blindness. However, discussions can evolve to special needs that go beyond blindness. This story helps children understand that compassionate thinking is needed and appreciated when interacting with loved ones and/or friends with special needs.

[Carla Raymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great story about a creative young lady. Children can surprise you with how creative they can be. In this case, Lucy wanted to create a picture that her blind grandfather could feel. I would use this story and and talk about what it means to be blind. I would then create a craft that the kids could do that had to do with textures.

[Annette Taylor-james · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great to read to children when trying to teach them to be nice to everyone and how they can practice doing so. You could provide things of different textures like Lucy's teacher did and provide them with contact paper to make a simple collage for a friend or family. Lucy's example can be a catalyst for a good lesson plan.

[Monique Williams]

I thought this was a wonderful story This book is perfect for introducing children to different ways of thinking and making accommodations. If you had a new student who my have a disability it would be a good way to have the children think of ways that we could help change the environment to make the child feel more welcome. This is just a great book with an unexpected ending.

[Kiah Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the ending of this book. I thought Lucy was so sweet to her grandfather. I think this book would get the attention of young students be because it shows the process of Lucy making her picture but it doesn't tell who the picture is for until the end. I think this book can be used to help students come up with ways that they can help students with disabilities in their classroom.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

shorten each pages verbage just a bit and this is a tear jerker for the parents of toddlers and one to which the children themselves can relate.

Lends itself to lots of storytime themes:
Blindness, disabilities, grandparents, love, pictures, creativity

[Jennifer]

This book sparked a good discussion with my students. We talked about what we could do for someone who needed extra help. The students remembered a student we formerly had in our classroom that has autism. We talked about things we would do for Cole.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Sabeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy's Picture was really fun to read. I loved how the theme of the book was about art and it can really inspire children to engage in art activities and explore their creativity. Overall the book was simple and really well structured on the steps and progress she made with her picture for grandpa

[Alise Durkota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book to help develop artistic creativity through different mediums.

Also see: Beautiful Oops, The Dot

[Tiffanni Dean]

This book is good for encouraging creativity from students.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book about making a collage for a blind grandfather and feeling the texture of different items. A great read to PreK-1st graders before an art class.

[Ashley Greenfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good story for children to read when discussing those children with special needs. It shows them how to treat each other and respect the differences.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I love this book!