The Pencil

by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman

Book Overview

The creators of THE RUNAWAY DINNER and PREVIOUSLY team up to imagine the comical world that comes to life when a lonely pencil starts to draw. "One day that little pencil made a move, shivered slightly, quivered somewhat . . . and began to draw." Welcome back Banjo, the boy from THE RUNAWAY DINNER! Once a pencil draws him, there's no telling what will come next - a dog, a cat, a chase (of course), and a paintbrush to color in an ever-expanding group of family and friends. But it's not long before the complaints begin - "This hat looks silly!" "My ears are too big!" - until the poor pencil has no choice but to draw . . . an eraser. Oh no! In the hands of Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman, can anything but havoc and hilarity ensue?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763638943
• ISBN13: 9780763638948
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.9" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great book

I checked this book out of the library following the recommendation of the librarian for my 3 year old. He loved this book so much that I bought it for him as a surprise. Its a great book, well written, easy to follow and fun to read. I would recommend it for any child who loves books.

A lovely book

This book sparks imagination of kids and motivates them to draw pictures. It is full of subtile humor, too, and the illustrations are so simple and comforting for overloaded children eyes that this very often is our favorite bedtime lecture... I can highly recommend this book.

Another Ahlberg Hit

If you enjoyed Runaway Dinner, you'll love The Pencil. This book shows many of the characters from The Runaway Dinner and what can happen when creation of an overzealous eraser makes things go awry.

FIRR-Kids! Review

This is a definite winner from the team that created The Runaway Dinner. The combination of humorous text, quirky drawn out writing style, and clever illustrations all point to another runaway hit! Many of the same characters reappear from the first book, which is extra fun for the readers. Once there was a pencil, who loved to draw. He sketches wonderful things - a boy and a dog, a cat for the dog to chase, a house, a family for the little boy and even an entire town. He even draws a paintbrush to make his drawings rich with color. And is everyone happy? No! The pencil is overrun with complaints and must draw an eraser to clean things up. The eraser starts rubbing away and everyone seems satisfied. Yet rather suddenly he gets too excited and starts erasing all sorts of extra things. Poof! The house and town are gone. The pencil must quickly come up with a plan to stop this eraser and save his own skin, er, graphite. What a wonderfully imaginative story this is. It's a fun read that will have readers rushing through the pages to find out who will prevail in the end. Whimsical illustrations and a quick wit make the entire book fly by far too quickly.

Creative and fun

What a wonderful book! We checked this out from the library and have read it several times this week, at my 4 year old's request. We will be buying it for ourselves and our friends. This book opens up even a small child's imagination and makes them wonder what will happen next. My four year old wanted to draw a story after reading this book. I'll be looking for more books by this author this weekend at the library.