As a writer, Elizabeth Koda-Callan knows the importance of expressing oneself in language and last year helped her readers do so with the highly successful The Secret Diary. Ms. Koda-Callan is also an artist, and this year she helps her readers express themselves with drawing in The Artist's Palette. Like The Secret Diary, this is two books in one--an illustrated storybook and an artist's sketchbook. Nestled in the cover is a silver palette charm on a sturdy silver chain. A tale about creativity and self-esteem, The Artist's Palette teaches young readers to value their own uniqueness. When a little girl draws a tree in a different way from her classmates, they wrinkle their noses and laugh at her--and she begins to doubt herself. But her teacher helps the little girl nourish her individuality by giving her a silver palette charm as a reminder to draw what she sees and not what others see. Following the full-color illustrated story is the sketchbook. Partially filled in with drawings of the little girl's family, her teacher, her pets, and a party dress, it serves to encourage all readers to look and then draw what they see, and find a way to capture their world in a picture. With its larger format and Wire-O binding that allows it to stay open during drawing sessions, The Artist's Palette will become every reader's own personal sketchbook, and a place to express herself. For children ages 5-9.