“Perfect” by Max Amato
Perfect is about an eraser that is obsessed with having a perfectly clean page. They erase every pencil mark in sight and can’t stand pencils themselves. While erasing a full page of graphite, the eraser realizes that by erasing, they can create all kinds of shapes within the pencil markings. By the end, the pencil and the eraser are friends and realize they can do more together than they can apart and the eraser particularly grows to understand that something does not have to be clean to be “perfect.” I am obsessed with all the little visual details, particularly the “cloud” of eraser dust when the eraser exhales.
Since I love art, I think giving students a project where they “draw” using an eraser on a colored-in sheet of paper is an amazing idea.
Sidenote - I highly recommend checking out Max Amato’s work he has featured on his website! He is an absolutely incredible artist and it was nothing I expected from the author of such a simple and cute book.
Author’s Website: Work - Max Amato
Read Aloud: https://youtu.be/8StxzOZSXC8?si=ZVCt5I8hiniTLI2B
