Last week, Robbi shared her painting of a city…
…and asked kids to draw their own cities. Specifically, she asked this:
So here’s your drawing prompt: Take some of your favorite buildings from where you live, some buildings from places you’ve visited or places you’ve seen or places you’ve imagined, and put them all together in one big city. And maybe your city has a personality – is it happy? Is it sad? Is it fun? Is it goofy?
This must have been a really good prompt, because LOTS of kids sent us their pictures.
According to her dad, “Melody drew a picture of New Orleans because she is reading a book about the city in school. She liked learning about jazzy music and Louis Armstrong.”
As far as I am concerned, this an EXCELLENT depiction of jazzy music, especially the guy with the trumpet.
Valerie (who has the same dad as Melody) “drew a picture of Hong Kong because she liked the neon lights at night – ‘It is very pretty,’ she said.”
I have been to Hong Kong and agree that it is a beautiful place, especially at night, when the lights from all those tall buildings reflect on the water of the bay. I’m glad Valerie let us know that Hong Kong is “bright,” because it definitely is.
Paxon (who happens to be the brother of Melody and Valerie), “drew a picture of a city named: ‘Power Ranger Ninja Storm City’ because the residents there are power rangers (from the Ninja storm series)!”
I am not familiar with the Power Rangers, but I know well enough that ninjas are sneaky. I’m guessing they are hiding behind the buildings in Paxon’s drawing.
And here is a drawing from Tyler, called “North Star City.” Instead of just responding to the prompt with a drawing, Tyler also sent in a story. Here it is.
“There was an earthquake inside the city. That’s why our boat got stuck inside the snow. We went out to ski when the storm was done. We’re doing tricks on our skis – first we are jumping off a ski bump, second we go on a skinny box jump, after that we do another bump plus a big box jump and keep skiing all the way down to North Star… My mom is following me, and I’m following my dad. One of the buildings we ski by is the Washington monument which I haven’t been inside. The other building is Taipei 101 which I have been inside.”
And here’s a drawing AND a story called “Ninjago City” from Theo, who also incorporates the ninja theme begun by Paxon and Tyler’s exploration of international destinations.
“The golden ninja is trying to get on the Chima speedorz [it’s a Chima vehicle with just one wheel]. They’re getting attacked by skull canons and eagle canons. My school Synapse is safe. The golden ninja, Lloyd, and the white ninja, Zane DX, are coming to help. Synapse is putting metal on the school to protect it from the canons. The Shanghai tower (you need to pay $30 to go up in it), is putting metal on as well for protection. Lloyd and Zane thought they were in training in their temple to defeat the skeletons and birds until they figured out that it was a real battle. Ninjago City needs their help!”
I must say that Theo’s story upends many of my long-held ninja stereotypes. The only people I know named Lloyd are accountants who eat bran flakes.
Perhaps what Theo has really done is invert my stereotypes of people named Lloyd. He must be one self-confident golden ninja.
And here’s a drawing/story combo from Spencer. Spoiler alert: more ninjas lie ahead.
“Ninjago Fixer City”
Once upon a time there were bad guys coming to attack Ninjago Fixer City. They were dropping TNT bombs on the buildings. There’s Taipei 101 (I like the idea of Taipei 101 since I’ve been to the top before), the Washington Monument (which is all cracked from the first earthquake so they wouldn’t let us inside), College Park (which is my school), and the Palace of Fine Arts (which is near my grandpa’s house in San Francisco). And there’s a really pretty waterfall at the bottom. One of the Ninjago ships is throwing firecrackers to explode the bad guy’s ship. It’s called Ninjago Fixer City because the Ninjago’s help fix the city.
TNT bombs. Ninjas named Lloyd! I’m not sure I can handle all this excitement.
Fortunately, the landscape of Alden’s city is dominated not by ninjas but by bold representations of her own name. Called “Alden City,” it is a peaceful place “where princesses dance.” I asked her if her city contains any ninjas and she told me that she didn’t think so.
There was just enough hesitation in her voice to make me think that a ninja might be lurking about somewhere.
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your cities. If anyone is particularly interested in Robbi’s, we’ve just put it up for auction on Ebay. Perhaps it will interest you to know that this illustration appeared in a magazine called The Writer’s Chronicle. Here’s how it looked inside the magazine.
The funny thing about illustrations is that they are, by definition, meant to live somewhere, and often together with words. Whether in a magazine or a book or on a billboard, illustrations aren’t complete until they find the place that they’re supposed to be.
If you want to put Robbi’s city on your way, here’s the Ebay link. Bidding ends next Monday at 12:30 EST.
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