Whether using as a traditional read aloud/read along or as an instructional tool, this adorable book about a beloved activity will find a home with many kids! I love that illustrations include a diverse group of children and add more depth to the simple, yet effective text. Alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, and onomatopoeia work perfectly for kiddos and the goals of their teachers. And if that wasn’t enough, this is the kind of book that can help create discussion with parents.

Love this book and how colorful it was. It’s very fun and straight to the point. Would be a great book to get your child into reading.

This is the perfect summertime book about the joy of chalk drawing on the sidewalk with neighborhood friends. The vivid colors and movement work perfectly with the nearly wordless onomatopoeia text. It reminded me of Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You or another recently published picture book, Chalk the Walk.

This makes a great storytime book for summer reading programs, families, and schools. I highly recommend this book for children and their families, schools, and libraries.

Two stories are told simultaneously in Sidewalk Chalk: in the more surface-level narrative, a group of children use a big bucket of chalk to decorate the street in their neighborhood. When rain begins to fall their creations wash away and they are deterred for the day, only to come back the next day with renewed creative spirit to do it all again. In the more subtle story (which is told via illustration only, and will reward observant readers,) one girl tries to join in on the chalk fun but is intimidated by the large group of kids and has a hard time claiming a piece of chalk before they are all snatched up. By the end of the story she has discovered that she can use a rock to create art on the street just like chalk, and is encouraging the group to welcome a new kid who has just moved into the neighborhood and is feeling similarly shy.

The writing heavily features onomatopoeia and uses single words and phrases rather than full sentences, making this a book that rewards slow reading and observation to take in both the poetic language and also notice the elements of the story that are not being told through words. Speaking of those elements, Ravotti's bright and bold color palette reflects the joy of chalk art, while the digital art medium allows for brushes and lines that imitate the chalk art of children as well as blurring effects when the rain arrives to wash the art away. I do feel that drawing more attention visually to the subtle story would have helped more readers notice and understand what is going on. I wish that the kids who are reluctant to join in were highlighted a little more visually, whether with shading, line wait, or separating them a little bit more from the rest of the kids compositionally.

This is overall a charming picture book which would be great for kid with strong intuitive reading skills, or even to aid in developing those skills. It would be a nice resource for educators looking for a work which requires careful reading and visual analysis. I do think some of the elements of the story could be lost on some readers.

My three-year old daughter and I had tons of fun reading Sidewalk Chalk and found it especially relevant coming up on warmer weather. We even pulled out our chalk following our reading of the book.

She loved all the bright colours, and I loved the simple story, rhyming and easy-words for the opportunity to sound out letters of the one or two words written on the page. Perfect for the very young through to any little kiddos starting to read or learn how to read!

Thanks so much for the arc!

Sidewalk chalk is a sweet and short book with a large variety of vocabulary words. The story is of a girl who wants to join in with a group of children drawing with chalk but is too shy. I thought the story was thoughtful but the transition at the end could have used one more page to reinforce the main character joining the group. The main character goes from being invited and shyly accepting to then telling everyone to accept a new child and leading the group. I think one more page for the transition would help clarify the message of belonging and acceptance to young readers.

The illustration is fantastic and the story uses great vocabulary with an easy to follow story structure.

Jen Fier Jasinski's "Sidewalk Chalk" is a colorful picture book for preschool-aged children. The book uses simple onomatopoeia and action words to complement detailed illustrations of children at play.

Because the book uses very simple, short words, it may be a little hard for children to follow the story without discussion, so this is definitely a book where my five-year-old daughter and I talked about what was happening in each picture as we read. The illustrations are very detailed and beautiful, so it was fun to do. I like books that encourage discussion, but without that, it would have been a very fast read.

It makes for a really fun book to pair with a sidewalk chalk activity, and you can bring up the words used in the book with your child or try to recreate some of the chalk drawings from the book with your child.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced read.

Sidewalk Chalk features simple wording with absolutely beautiful and vibrant illustrations. I'm not the biggest fan of the simple wording sentences as I don't think my 4 year old truly grasped what was happened based off of the words and had to exclusively rely on the pictures as the story advanced. For this story to have the biggest effect, I feel like the reader will really to slowly grow through each page, explain the action/wording, while talking through the scene.

But once again, the illustrations were perfection!

Sidewalk Chalk is a great book for emerging readers and early literacy. Few words, excellent pictures, and a lovely cadence make this book a delight to read. I highly recommend this for PreK-1st grade classrooms.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

This book is SO CUTE!! The illustrations are adorable and colorful and perfectly compliments the rhythmic cadence of the writing. A sweet story, with an even sweeter ending! This is gonna be a fun one to read to kids!

This book has wonderful illustrations and gives children room to verbalize/tell their own stories. I love this idea of using this book in speech therapy to target expressive language skills.

The book was beautifully written. Overall, I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance reading copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

What a darling book! The illustrations are so bright and colourful! I love that the entire story is told through images and sounds. I would use this book to show kids how to write with sounds and not in full sentences.

A simple and fun look at the imaginative world of sidewalk chalk! I can see this being fairly interactive if the grown-up reader portrays the actions (especially with chalk or crayons?)

The illustrations are also so bright and really capture the excitement of creating something new.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When processing this book as an educator, the book functions as an excellent tool to practice onomatopoeia and some alliteration. The message that is shared within the story is a beautiful message that can also be applied to a classroom environment.
When processing this book as a parent reader, the book is a delightful and colorful experience. The illustrations provide excellent story development and the colors hold on to the reader’s attention.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gnome Road Publishing for the ARC. The illustrations are vibrant and awesome, just like sidewalk chalk! the description of the book says a new neighbor is shy and the book is about welcoming them. I didn't really get that vibe from the book. it just seemed like the neighborhood got together, it wasn't made known about a shy neighbor. I do like the Onomatopoeia, it really made it seem like I was there. I do with there was some dialogue in it though. This was a good book, just would suggest a few minor tweaks for it to be even better!

Super cute and vibrant illustrations with short onomatopoeia words that young people will be able to identify with. Great for read alouds for a school library or personal collection.