There's a reason this book has sold more than 300,000 copies. I am REALLY enjoying it. I'm an analytical perfectionist and sometimes feel like I am completely lacking in artistic talent. This book has been great to help me gain an understanding and love of drawing which I am now hoping I can transfer to my children. :)

I know there are TONS of books, youTube tutorials, and websites out there that can teach you to draw. It's kind of overwhelming. After I saw this book referenced four or five places I decided to give it a try. I wish I had bought it years ago when I first heard about it! What I like best about it is that it teaches a method for "seeing" that you can apply to ALL types of drawing. It's not just going to teach you specific steps for drawing an elephant/house/whatever. It's teaching you a process, step by step and block on block, by which you can draw anything you see.

The first 50 pages are an intro of sorts covering what you need to know before you get started - thoughts behind the method, how to choose which level to teach to (each chapter has advice for different levels of instruction), supplies, how to set up a art space, and some info on what you should expect to see as skills progress/develop. The book then has 5 lessons with lots of great sketches to help you out/illustrate the principles. It's pretty amazing to me how far Mona's "Monart" method can take you in just 200 pages of notes. My kids and I are going to use this for art this fall and I'm very excited to get started with it!

I plan to also buy Mona's book Drawing for Older Children and Teens. Two thumbs up for a great author/artist, I'm so glad she wrote this book!

I bought the book to teach my son drawing. After reading the first 2 chapters, I became so inspired that I started drawing myself. I'd never drawn anything artistic before. But I was able to follow the lessons and was quite surprised at the results I got. My child is 6 years old and I could see the changes in his drawing once he got the 5 basic elements of shape concept.

The book embeds many important concepts about how to teach children drawing between the lessons. For example, it explains the difference between symbolic drawing and realistic drawing in children and the importance of not interfering the development of each. These are very helpful for those who are new to drawing.

I find the lesson itself pretty easy to follow, but the drawing theories and techniques between the lessons might take much more time to explain to a 6 years old. So I broke one lesson and the concepts into smaller lessons that last about half hour.

The only thing I don't like about the book is: you need to make photocopies of some pages in the book for the lessons. It is not easy to make photocopies from a book--the pictures were distorted a bit and the size wasn't quite right. For lesson 2, I couldn't get a good copy of the lion --- the face is completely dark even though I used a commercial copier. I think this is the publisher's fault.

In conclusion: I strongly recommend this book to those who want to draw or teach children to draw and think you are not good enough to start.

I found the reviews by elementary teachers and art teachers here really helpful in selecting this book. It really is a classic among them for good reason. It teaches drawing as careful, meditative observation that anyone can learn but also a skill that requires real work to improve. It's a superb pedagogical tool and resource--it has excellent structured exercises and very practical instruction. But it is also so much more than a simple "how-to draw" book. The writing feels at times like literary essay and I found it made me pause and reflect on my feelings and assumptions about drawing, art and critique.

I bought it as a gift to my son (7 years old) but, secretly, also to me. It's so hard to find the time anymore to draw or write on my own. With the book, we were able to sit down and start drawing together on one afternoon. I could teach him a few key concepts and points, set up the task, and off we'd go...sitting beside each other drawing...and, magically, we'd both get so absorbed that time would drift away...the next thing we knew, a couple of hours had gone by.

We've had a few more sessions--all at his enthusiastic request. The level of work that he has produced has really surprised both him and me. I look forward to working through all the chapters with him.

My personal rating system is as follows. 3 stars means I liked the book but probably wouldn't read it again. 4 stars means I liked the book and will probably read it again. It was difficult to rate this book 4 stars... maybe because after the first read-through, it's going to be "read again" as a research book, as needed and only the parts needed (not cover-to-cover).

This isn't your typical drawing book where you follow step-by-step instructions on how to create a picture identical to the one in the book. It's for any person interested in starting to draw no matter the age. It covers creating the environment for a good drawing experience... eliminating noice pollution in the room or area, relaxing the eyes and shoulders, etc. It also goes into depth on which words to apply when working with people while they're drawing in order to support improvement and yet avoid unnecessary negativity.

The lessons are embedded in the text. I would almost say a read-through, cover-to-cover is required before you actually start to do the lessons. In this way, the writer did a great job explaining the motive for drawing and redefined a successful experience. It's less about what the finished product looks like and more about techniques used to get there. The writer shows many examples from children of multiple ages as well as adults who have a broad range of "abilities". You can see how one still life model can lead to many different interpretations... with none of them being "wrong".

Final sections in the book covered topics of working with people who have special needs as well as using art to teach multiple other educational subjects... yes even math. I just finished reading the book and plan on going back to the beginning to work on the lessons... both for myself and my children.

My son is 5 years old, and for 2 years now he's enjoyed drawing more than any other activity. I am NOT an artist, so when he asks me in frustration, "Mommy, how do you draw ____," I do my best to help him by looking at pictures of what he wants to draw and talking about it as I try to draw a poor example. I have been looking for curricula to help children learn to draw, but everything I could find was for older children only since the prevailing idea in art education for young children is that they should merely explore art media. The author of this book explains that even young children can learn to draw realistically just as they can learn to read and write when we give them the necessary tools. She gives detailed instructions and lessons to help ANYONE learn to draw, and to help adults teach children--even if the adult has no background in drawing. Now my boy and I enjoy two sessions a week with drawing instruction from Mona Brookes, who BTW, has schools across the country teaching people her teaching method so that children (and adults) can learn to draw. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn or teach this art medium.

I think this would be a great book for an art instructor. I'm a parent and I thought I could use this book to teach my daughter about drawing. She's really into drawing. I'm not an artist and have never cared much for drawing. This book is good but very detailed and tedious. The first 50 pages are about having the right attitude to draw (everyone's an artist, everyone can draw). She goes into lots of detail about many possible negative beliefs kids or adults have about drawing. There's a long explanation about setting up the classroom, materials, the importance of quiet, etc. There's then an introduction into different elements--straight lines, angled lines, curved lines, dots, circles--I think that's it. That's about as far as I got in this book. I just don't have time to wade through all of this information nor do I have the time to set up a whole classroom at home. I wanted a book that was more a step-by-step how to draw...whatever. I will also say my other negative on this book is that it seems like one big commercial for her MonArt program. There is so many "with my program" and then some example of a former student who now has a career in art. Or "with my program this child went from drawing this to this" with lots of pictures examples.

Don't listen to the negative reviews! This book is highly undervalued by those who don't seem to understand its purpose. I'm a homeschool mom and a children's book artist...so I do know a little bit. I bought this to supplement our Classical Conversations curriculum in our homeschool next year. I've only been reading and thumbing through it for 10 minutes and I can already tell it's good stuff!

This book was not designed to enhance your child's natural art abilities. People don't seem to get that! At least not the people's negative reviews that I read...so glad I ignored them. Rather, this book is all about teaching children how to visually interpret what they see in the world around them. It's called representative drawing. What a great life skill that can be useful in many adult professions (design, marketing, architecture, and I'm sure a lot more).

Bottom line, this is a great tool for any homeschool family or parent or teacher seeking to incorporate a more realistic side to their children's art experience.

I like art, but have zero formal training. My 5 year old really loves to draw. Not just little stick figure blobs, but detailed pictures. She really wants instruction, but like I said, I had little to offer. I was looking for something that could help her and help me teach her.

The lessons are pretty involved and you definitely want to read through the lesson in advance. (The first time I made the mistake of pulling it out on a whim, and there was a lot of down time as I read and processed and then explained to her).

Great thing to do TOGETHER. I get out my sheet of paper and as I am walking through the steps I demonstrate. You don't have to be a master artist to do this. The book seriously walks you line by line through the drawings.

There is a lot of background theory of teaching methods in the beginning. And some warm up exercises. I recommend reading all this first and your first lesson and gathering all your materials before presenting it to your child.

Właśnie otrzymałam książkę - opakowana była w pojedynczą tekturę, bez jakiegokolwiek zabezpieczenia przeciw obtarciom czy wilgoci. Okładka książki jest pogięta, a z jej części schodzi lakier.

Great book, very informative

Now here's a book that finally offers structure to the way of teaching drawing. We all learn through copy format however mona brooke's book tries to break that pedagogy and introduce a novel way of instilling creativity.

Un corso di disegno molto valido.

Stiamo applicando questo metodo con ottimi risultati su un gruppetto di bambini di 7, 5 e 3 anni.

Comprende una parte metodologica e gli schemi delle lezioni da proporre ai bambini.

Le lezioni sono adatte anche per la scuola dell'infanzia

Being a senior, I've been able to draw after a fashion since junior school. Wanting to get back into it I was recommended this book. I find it very useful for learning the basics. It hasn't taken me long to be able to draw with more confidence. Of course, I've had to practice the lessons, not just read the book. It's a really good book for teaching your kids or grandkids with as well. An excellent recommendation as far as I'm concerned.