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Workshop
The dazzling cut-paper artistry of Caldecott medalist David Wisniewski combines with Andrew Clements's free-verse celebration of woodworking tools to tell the story of a surprise in the making. The evocative description of each workshop tool-ruler, axe, saw, hammer, and the rest-is accompanied by a vivid, dramatically composed illustration showing how it is used in the step-by-step construction of an ornate, old-fashioned carousel. An eager young apprentice assists one craftsman after another as the project takes shape and is rewarded with a toolbox of his won. Young wood-working enthusiasts will enjoy the affectionate and knowledgeable portraits of familiar tools as well as an acclaimed artist's vision of the magic simple tools can do.
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 1999
5 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Clements
189 books2,177 followersI was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1949 and lived in Oaklyn and Cherry Hill until the middle of sixth grade. Then we moved to Springfield, Illinois. My parents were avid readers and they gave that love of books and reading to me and to all my brothers and sisters. I didn’t think about being a writer at all back then, but I did love to read. I'm certain there's a link between reading good books and becoming a writer. I don't know a single writer who wasn’t a reader first.
Before moving to Illinois, and even afterwards, our family spent summers at a cabin on a lake in Maine. There was no TV there, no phone, no doorbell—and email wasn’t even invented. All day there was time to swim and fish and mess around outside, and every night, there was time to read. I know those quiet summers helped me begin to think like a writer.
During my senior year at Springfield High School my English teacher handed back a poem I’d written. Two things were amazing about that paper. First, I’d gotten an A—a rare event in this teacher’s class. And she’d also written in large, scrawly red writing, “Andrew—this poem is so funny. This should be published!”
That praise sent me off to Northwestern University feeling like I was a pretty good writer, and occasionally professors there also encouraged me and complimented the essays I was required to write as a literature major. But I didn’t write much on my own—just some poetry now and then. I learned to play guitar and began writing songs, but again, only when I felt like it. Writing felt like hard work—something that’s still true today.
After the songwriting came my first job in publishing. I worked for a small publisher who specialized in how-to books, the kind of books that have photos with informative captions below each one. The book in which my name first appeared in print is called A Country Christmas Treasury. I’d built a number of the projects featured in the book, and I was listed as one of the “craftspeople”on the acknowlegements page, in tiny, tiny type.
In 1990 I began trying to write a story about a boy who makes up a new word. That book eventually became my first novel, Frindle, published in 1996, and you can read the whole story of how it developed on another web site, frindle.com. Frindle became popular, more popular than any of my books before or since—at least so far. And it had the eventual effect of turning me into a full-time writer.
I’ve learned that I need time and a quiet place to think and write. These days, I spend a lot of my time sitting in a small shed about seventy feet from my back door at our home in Massachusetts. There’s a woodstove in there for the cold winters, and an air conditioner for the hot summers. There’s a desk and chair, and I carry a laptop computer back and forth. But there’s no TV, no phone, no doorbell, no email. And the woodstove and the pine board walls make the place smell just like that cabin in Maine where I spent my earliest summers.
Sometimes kids ask how I've been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word. And growing up, it's the same way. We just have to go to that next class, read that next chapter, help that next person. You simply have to do that next good thing, and before you know it, you're living a good life.
Before moving to Illinois, and even afterwards, our family spent summers at a cabin on a lake in Maine. There was no TV there, no phone, no doorbell—and email wasn’t even invented. All day there was time to swim and fish and mess around outside, and every night, there was time to read. I know those quiet summers helped me begin to think like a writer.
During my senior year at Springfield High School my English teacher handed back a poem I’d written. Two things were amazing about that paper. First, I’d gotten an A—a rare event in this teacher’s class. And she’d also written in large, scrawly red writing, “Andrew—this poem is so funny. This should be published!”
That praise sent me off to Northwestern University feeling like I was a pretty good writer, and occasionally professors there also encouraged me and complimented the essays I was required to write as a literature major. But I didn’t write much on my own—just some poetry now and then. I learned to play guitar and began writing songs, but again, only when I felt like it. Writing felt like hard work—something that’s still true today.
After the songwriting came my first job in publishing. I worked for a small publisher who specialized in how-to books, the kind of books that have photos with informative captions below each one. The book in which my name first appeared in print is called A Country Christmas Treasury. I’d built a number of the projects featured in the book, and I was listed as one of the “craftspeople”on the acknowlegements page, in tiny, tiny type.
In 1990 I began trying to write a story about a boy who makes up a new word. That book eventually became my first novel, Frindle, published in 1996, and you can read the whole story of how it developed on another web site, frindle.com. Frindle became popular, more popular than any of my books before or since—at least so far. And it had the eventual effect of turning me into a full-time writer.
I’ve learned that I need time and a quiet place to think and write. These days, I spend a lot of my time sitting in a small shed about seventy feet from my back door at our home in Massachusetts. There’s a woodstove in there for the cold winters, and an air conditioner for the hot summers. There’s a desk and chair, and I carry a laptop computer back and forth. But there’s no TV, no phone, no doorbell, no email. And the woodstove and the pine board walls make the place smell just like that cabin in Maine where I spent my earliest summers.
Sometimes kids ask how I've been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don't have to do everything at once. You don't have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for that next idea, write that next word. And growing up, it's the same way. We just have to go to that next class, read that next chapter, help that next person. You simply have to do that next good thing, and before you know it, you're living a good life.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 22, 2017
The story is fine, but it's the art that really shines in this one. Intricate paper cutting! Very beautiful.
September 19, 2017
Beautiful and detailed illustrations.
August 16, 2019
Sparse text and incredible illustrations tell the tale of a boy who works his way through a workshop to help build a Merry-go-Round.
Read
March 17, 2020ode to carpentry
beautiful illustrations
beautiful illustrations
August 2, 2021
Nonfiction written as poetic riddles. Just ok for me.
August 29, 2021
A nice book about tools and how they are used. The pictures show each tool, large and small, and how they are used.
July 9, 2024
The paper cutting is fantastic.
September 25, 2024
Okay text about building a carousel, cool paper cut illustrations. Could be interesting to a kid interested in tools.
January 3, 2025
Many tools introduced through stunning papercut illustrations by Wisniewski. Carousel horse is the end result of the project!
May 19, 2012
I actually added a category for this title--one that I hadn't considered before. Well, maybe I had, but this particular book brought out a need to focus on occupations and trades.
Andrew Clements presents the wood workshop here. Each tool gets its own two-page spread which not only serves to introduce the tool, but it also provides an opportunity to depict the work of that particular tool.
Clements offers a short description of what that tool is doing using short sentences and metaphors that should not be missed by teachers covering figurative language and rhetorical devices.
Andrew Clements presents the wood workshop here. Each tool gets its own two-page spread which not only serves to introduce the tool, but it also provides an opportunity to depict the work of that particular tool.
Clements offers a short description of what that tool is doing using short sentences and metaphors that should not be missed by teachers covering figurative language and rhetorical devices.
June 8, 2015
This is a good read for its rich language, the kind of book that offers a multitude of great examples of writer's craft. I really liked the book and the idea of woodworking being the subject lent all the more to the idea of book leading to more creation. I child could read this and come away ready to dabble with some the same things he or she observed in the story. Good book for the classroom.
December 6, 2016
Media: Watercolor and Color-aid cut papers
This book was informational. Each piece of equipment had a description of what it did. There was also an illustration that showed how it worked as well. They eventually use all of these tools to make something great.
This book was informational. Each piece of equipment had a description of what it did. There was also an illustration that showed how it worked as well. They eventually use all of these tools to make something great.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2010
Nice book with beautiful cut-paper pictures. Each page is about a tool, so my four-year-old son loved it. Although not described in the text, the pictures show a merry-go-round being built.
October 19, 2011
A great introduction to basic tools. Simple words and great pictures.
January 15, 2013
We loved the book, except for one fault... I'm proud to say my kids noticed it first... The carpenters in the story never use eye protection.
February 26, 2013
Beautiful illustrations. Alphabet based on woodworking tools.
February 1, 2014
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.org
June 23, 2015
Poems about tools found in a workshop partnered with mediocre illustrations.
June 2, 2014
The pictures looked 3D.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews