One of the Ohio Department of Education’s “pre-kindergarten content standards” that the average parent might not intuit reads as follows:

“With prompting and support, (preschoolers) will name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.” I think The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle presents a nice opportunity to talk with children about the meaning of the word “illustrator.” Preschool teachers sometimes engage in “author studies” and Eric Carle is often a focus for this type of study. Now we have a great new book to include the study of Carle by Carle himself!!