The Art Lesson

A Shavuot Story

By: Allison Marks, Wayne Marks

Narrated by: Book Buddy Digital Media

Shoshana loves spending time at Grandma Jacobs' art studio and for Shavuot, Grandma Jacobs has a very special art project in mind! Shoshana learns how to make papercuts by carefully folding squares of paper and cutting shapes out of them. But can she create works of art as beautiful as the ones Grandma makes?

Please note: The original source audio for this production includes noise/volume issues. This is the best available audio from the publisher.

©2017 Allison Marks and Wayne Marks (P)2020 Lerner Digital™

Critic reviews

"What could be better to bring home the meaning of a Jewish holiday, especially the spring harvest holiday of Shavuot, which shows God’s gift of Torah to the Jewish people, than a book about making art! Shavuot is usually celebrated either by staying up one night of Shavuot studying Torah and/or by creating an art work. This book is about the making of paper cuts depicting various aspects of the holiday and the authors...show how it can be done. Grandma J is an art teacher who is totally proficient in creating paper cuts of magnificent design. She shares her skill and her love of art with her granddaughter, Shoshana, as they create special designs for Shavuot and skills for a lifetime of creativity.... A nice touch is that the creation of several pieces are all learned as the reader watches the process of the girl growing up, who later shares what she has learned with her own granddaughter...." (Jewish Book Council)

"Shoshana’s grandma is an artist, with bright red cat-eye glasses and a cat named Krasner. Every Thursday after school, Shoshana goes to her studio - 'like an enchanted forest' - to do art.... For Shavuot, Grandma J and Shoshana make papercuts. Grandma J creates beautiful roses and Torahs, but all Shoshana sees when she unfolds her paper are ugly holes. Grandma J teaches her to see visions in her abstractions: fields of flowers, schools of fish, honeycombs of bees. And many years later, when Shoshana is an artist herself, she teaches her own granddaughter the lessons of Grandma J. A short afterword explains Shavuot, mentions that Eastern European Jews used to make papercuts to hang in their windows for the holiday - who knew? - and gives instructions for a simple Star of David papercut. It also explains who the Jewish artists named in the text are…including Lee Krasner, who was not, in actual fact, a cat. (Ages 3-6)" (Tablet Mag)