I received an electronic ARC from Gnome Road Publishing through NetGalley.
I love the onomatopoeia used to tell this story. Jasinski shares the entire book using words readers can hear. The brightly colored illustrations capture the joy and art created by these kids. When rain washes away their designs, they gather again the next day to draw some more. At this point, readers see a shy child lead the way to making a new neighbor feel welcome. I wish this part of the story had been clearer to match the blurb. Some young readers may miss the nuances. However, this won't stop them from appreciating the joy shared in this story.

This book is very colorful. I also thought the message of including others way good. It also teaches about starting over again when something happens and to try out new ideas. This could be a good book for teachers to use for social emotional learning or confidence building.

Beautiful book, with splendid illustrations but honestly for me I would have liked it better with more sentences rather than just words.

Still the illustrations are on another level of beautiful

Thank you NetGallery and Gnome Road Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Light, short story of community and finding one's place in the group. A lyrical text with few words (would be great for an onomatopoeia lesson) with much of the story told through the pictures. With so few words, it might be hard for a read aloud, but I could see a lot of our early readers enjoying listening to it and then reading it independently. The pictures are pretty and would likely inspire fun, collaborative chalk art among readers.

Sidewalk Chalk by Jen Fier Jasinski, illustrated by Lea Marie Ravotti, is a rhyming picture book celebrating creativity, community, and chalk art. The story follows a shy girl who wants to join neighborhood kids in creating colorful drawings. Jasinski's lyrical text captures imagination and collaboration for young children but may not appeal to those over 5 due to its simplicity and short length.
The illustrations are detailed and complement the concept of transforming sidewalks into narrative landscapes. The book explores the idea of finding one's place in a group and includes references to the protagonist’s emotional experiences. Suitable for parents and teachers promoting outdoor play and creativity, this book can be a valuable addition to any picture book collection. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced ARC for an honest review.
I would give this book a solid 3.5/5

This was a cute book. The illustrations are beautiful and they carry the book. There are key words used as text, but the story is really told through the pictures. Would recommend.

Fun, summery book! I like that it's not very text dense, and the illustrations are wonderful. It would a great book to read before any sort of summer kick off chalk event. The story is not very explicit through the prose, but the illustrations do a great job conveying this familiar summer experience.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved how it told more than one story, making it a book that both young and older readers will enjoy. This book would also lend itself well to being an instructional tool for teaching imagery and onomatopoeia.

My seven year old fell in love with the story from the start and was able to read the story to herself. We reread it several times already. Definitely adding to our personal shelves soon!

Delightful and vibrantly colored.. The simple text and illustrations really captures that moment in childhood. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read!

This is a great book for early readers in a Level 1-2 Reading or Pre-School age. The words are written large enough and easily found on each page with different colors. The story is laid out enough that the reader can understand the imagery well enough even without being able to read just quite yet.

The words are simple onomatopoeia words that are fun are sounding and help young readers try out new vowel combinations. Teachers will find this easy to be able to ask questions about using the pictures to help guide students through the children’s play and emotions.

Definitely a fun and enjoyable read that may be used to also incorporate play time with chalk; with the understanding it is not permanent; as an extended activity.

This is a really lovely book. It wasn’t really what I was expecting in terms of not having a “story” exactly but just the big words on each page to represent what was happening in the pictures.
However the illustrations are absolutely beautiful and I will definitely be purchasing this book to read with my 2 year old daughter as I think she will love the images of the little girl, the community and the chalk aspect. She’s just gotten into chalk herself so the story is really relevant to what she does in our garden.

Bright and colorful this book is a delight. I love the community aspect that it brings with all the children drawing together. I would like to see more inclusion of kids with disabilities though, just do to the nature of the story I feel like it would have added so much more.

I liked the imagination here with what could be done with the chalk, and the way that the author utilized lots of different words that sound good when read out loud.

Overall: 3.5 ⭐
Plot/Lesson:° 3📍
Smiles: 2 🙂
Illustrations: 5 🖌️
Suggested Ages: 0 - 3 y/o

"Mom's" Review:
The illustrations are definitely the focal point of this beautifully drawn story! I enjoyed the sound effects and single words emphasized in the story - great for vocabulary building with the littlest of littles.

Personally, I'm not quite sure the "story" as laid out in the overview came through as clearly as this talented author/illustrator team intended. It took me a minute to realize the rock was being handed off, that the story's focal point shifted to a new person, or that The Little Girl initiated or organized (the final effort).

Still, it's visually stunning!! 3 and under will probably be more then willing to sit and point out all the lovely details. Think "Good Night Gorilla," but as an idyllic 80's neighborhood with all the kids playing together. Nostalgia and inspiration rolled into one.

A's Review:^
(Coming soon!)

C's Review:*
(Coming soon!)

All opinions are our own.

° - Our Plot/Lesson rating is how well the kiddos picked up on the morals/lessons learned or well received the facts were.
^ - A: "Ready to Read" level 3, voracious reader
* - C: learning her letters, but memorizes stories well!

A short, lovely book full of gorgeous illustrations. The onomatopoeia are very well done. They flow and rhyme without being stilted. There's a nice message as well.

This will do well at the library with the art theme for the summer. We will purchase and use during our sidewalk chalk event. Thank you for the ARC.

What a fun book. The pictures are inviting and super colorful. My students will truly enjoy this picture book and all of the silly descriptive sounds.

Love love love the illustrations of this book! The colors are gorgeous and the cover really catches the eye with the many colors! Super cute and easy to read.

As I was reading this sweet little book, an upbeat beat with percussion was playing on the tv. Interestingly, I read the book to the best of the music. It’s not filled with text, but plenty of fun onomatopoeias and alliterations. The illustrations are colorful and bold and depict children in all types of fun activities. Put this to a fun beat and have the kids play along. They will love it and learn new words.

Awesome book! Right off the bat, I want to note that I think this book would be more meaningful to a "younger" young audience, due to the simple and minimalist writing choices. This book is especially useful introduce little ones to various literary devices, mainly alliteration and rhyming. What's even better is this book encourages kids to come out of their shells and engage in their own communities and with the people around them. I can't stress enough how important it is to get this point across to kids. The author did a great job of conveying this through a fun writing style and design, but the author did a fantastic job of really working together with the illustrator. It was clear that the two complemented each other, and having the visuals with the words be so intertwined was a highly effective tactic. Lastly, the illustrations on their own were stunning! I loved how the illustrator captured the wonder, creativity, and exploration that comes with playing with sidewalk chalk. Bravo!