Module 6: The Eraserheads

Summary

Kate Banks's book The Eraserheads is an interesting account of three eraser heads, a pig, an owl, and a crocodile, and how they aim to please their owner, a little boy. The owl is exceptionally good at erasing words, while the pig is scared to erase anything drawn that's bigger than him and the crocodile's forte is with numbers. Due to the mistake made by the crocodile who erases too much, the trio is stranded far from shore. The boy gives up on his artwork, further stranding the group until he comes back and rescues them by finishing a new scene in the picture. The moral of the story is perseverance in spite of mistakes.

Personal Impressions

To say this book was anything shy of imaginative is inaccurate. Who would think to write a story about erasers! Kate Banks did, and the result was this bright, colorful book with a good message for its intended elementary audience. It is easy to see why this book was a Caldecott winner. The story is far-fetched. Finding personal connections to the characters is not easy, since they are inanimate objects. I think it has more to do with the boy than with the three main characters. What an interesting and unique perspective on making mistakes! I loved this book and read it to my 3-year-old daughter, who also loved it. Readers will be intrigued if for no other reason than the pictures. Honestly, that's why I picked it up in the first place. Definitely recommended for elementary aged students.

Professional Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2–4—What a boy imagines while drawing is chronicled through a dialogue with an owl, a pig, and a crocodile, eraser creatures that live atop his colored pencils. The owl is good with words and backward letters. The pig erases everything except animals drawn larger than him. The crocodile is in charge of numbers. When the boy runs out of room after drawing a landscape, the crocodile goes too far, erasing and erasing until the trio lands in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly a wave sweeps the fearful friends onto a desert island, and they are chased by wild animals. The boy crumples and abandons his work, leaving the eraserheads stuck unless they can figure a way to inspire him to persevere and transform the scene into something else. Kulikov, a master of mixed-media illustrations, effectively uses two contrasting tones to create distinct, but juxtaposed worlds: the boy and his eraserheads are layered and densely rendered, while the child's artwork and the background images are lightly sketched and hatched with a watercolor base. This complex tale will intrigue those adventurers ready for a Jumanji-like experience of jumping into the arduous but rewarding creative process of persevering through mistakes.—Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

The creators of Max’s Words (2006) and Max’s Dragon (2008) collaborate again in this picture-book fantasy that begins in a very mundane, everyday setting: at a desk where a boy struggles with his homework. Three expressive, animal-shaped erasers help by rubbing out mistakes: a crocodile, who is “good with numbers”; an owl, who likes letters and words; and a pig with a big appetite, who will erase “just about anything.” The wild adventures begin when the boy ditches his lessons and begins to draw, and the erasers find themselves whisked perilously through each imagined world. They’re nearly drowned by a tidal wave from a beach scene and chased by wild animals until the crocodile, with some strategic erasing, sends a message to the boy, who sketches a boat and floats the gang safely in a calm sea. Banks folds reassuring messages about mistakes into this inventively illustrated title that, like David Wiesner’s Three Pigs (2001) and Mordicai Gerstein’s A Book (2009), plays with conventional story borders and may inspire kids to sail off on their own imagined escapades. Preschool-Grade 2. --Gillian Engberg

Library Uses

I think this would be a good story time book. The librarian could read it aloud to the elementary students, come up with a craft for them to do, such as designing their own eraserhead or drawing a summary of the book that includes the beginning, middle, and end. Then he/she could finish by giving the students an eraser head of their own and having them write about a journey they would send it on.

References

Banks, K. (2010). The eraserheads. New York, NY: Frances Foster Books.

Engberg, G. (2010). The eraserheads [Review]. Retrieved: www.booklistonline.com.

Paulson, S. L. (2010). The eraserheads [Review]. Retrieved: www.schoollibraryjournal.com.