Omar on Ice

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Omar the bear longs to be a famous artist, but all his pictures are
misinterpreted by his teacher, and he concludes that he is not very
adept at drawing. Elsie, whose drawings can easily be identified,
suggests his pencil is at fault.

When the class goes skating at recess, Elsie has trouble keeping her
balance, and Omar comes to her aid. As he demonstrates correct skating
posture, Omar gets carried away and unintentionally creates perfect ice
drawings.

Although children will be pleasantly surprised by the amazing pictures
created by Omar’s skates, his fortuitous artistic ability on skates
may be worrisome to adults. The suggestion that Omar’s pencil was the
problem (reinforced by the last line “You just needed a different kind
of pencil!”) seems to indicate that the right tools can make anyone an
artist, and may unnecessarily confuse the message that every child has
unique talents. Nonetheless, beginning readers in Grades 1 and 2 will
enjoy the story and will, perhaps, celebrate their own accomplishments.
Kovalski’s illustrations enliven the text with a unique style of
whimsy that perfectly matches the story. Recommended.