Lunchtime for a Purple Snake

by Harriet Ziefert, Todd McKie (Illustrations)

When Jessica visits her grandpa--who is an artist--they paint a picture together and he teaches her a little bit about color and composition along the way, in a fun tale that reveals the joy and discovery painting brings to artists young and old.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Family, Storytime, Juvenile

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2003

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl gets some valuable advice from her artist grandfather. A delightful picture book to pair with The Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg and The Dot by Peter Reynolds.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems uneventful, but I like it. Not too long, and works well with the color theme (this week is Purple) because of all the painting that goes on. I like the part about mixing colors. Would also be a good book for an art teacher to read when teaching about mixing colors & painting.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute book with beautiful illustrations. A little girl and her grandfather are creating this picture that tells a story before your eyes and he shows her how to fix her mistakes and he adds to her story with his own paintbrush. It is a very cute story!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A child and her grandfather turn a mistake while painting into a new painting. preschool and up

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, neat, imaginative. This is a good one.

[Goshen PL Childrens · Rating 4 out of 5]

GPL Storytime Goes Online

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We liked this book quite a bit. It was especially a good choice as we had been at the library earlier that day for arts and crafts and my daughter was mixing paints to get colors there. So this book was kind of like in addition to that and a fun little discovery for her.

It was a nice story about a granddaughter and grandfather and the time they spend together making a picture. It tells how the colors combined make other colors in a very simple and easy to understand way. I really enjoyed it and so did my daughter.

A good and educational book for young children.

[Slytano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will work well with a painting craft.

I was initailly put of by the fact that a book about painting had such dreadful paintings.

Then I realized it was a tool to teach kids how to paint. I was fooled. This is a great book.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous book for several reasons/uses:
colors and mixing colors
painting and imagination
the importance and uniqueness of a child's relationship to a grandparent

[Philip Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book to introduce children to mixing colors and enable them to watch a painting being developed in a special way.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful story about art for young children. It inspired even me to paint. That is saying something. I will definitely use this in a story time. A good find.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes through the basics of color mixing and painting. Good for an art storytime for preschoolers.

[Andrea Retana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I would like to read to my preschool students during art time. It is a story that teaches the basic color mixing and painting. It also helps children to develop their creativity.

[Tiffany Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book that teaches colors

[Katheryn Christensen]

Picture book. I will use this to teach about colors.

[Edna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little girl and her artist grandpa paint a picture together using only 5 colors of paint.