The Ugly Doodles

K-Gr 2–It only takes one visit to the art museum for Raven to fall in love. She immediately decides to turn her bedroom into a gallery and fill it with her very own masterpieces. Unfortunately, when she sits down to draw, all she can make are ugly doodles. She hates them, so she stuffs them under the bed. And that’s when the ugly doodles start haunting her. No matter what she does with them, the papers come back to her. Finally, Raven gives in. She takes out her crayons and paints, adding polish and color until her bedroom gallery is full of masterpieces that started their lives as ugly doodles. Suspense build swiftly with descriptive third-person narration and well-timed page turns. Unfortunately, the story’s conclusion suddenly veers away from the fun of the midsection and leaves readers with a moral that is tidy, yet lackluster. The illustrations use a mauve and mahogany palette and fuzzy black framing to create an eerie Victorian atmosphere. Raven, with her red curls and porcelain skin, has expressive eyes and body language.