The Artist and the Lava Beast
by
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Then to his amazement, the artist watched as the orange-colored lava flowing into the valley changed into the smoky brown head of a giant Lava beast. The little house standing alone with its open door seemed unaware of the danger nearby. The head of the Lava beast had crept up very close to the house and seemed to be sniffing along one of its walls. And yet the little house remained open, warm, and inviting.
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About the Book
Children learn about colors as they follow an artist creating images on an empty canvas. Through the artist's imagination, the painting of fish, lava, houses, trees and mountains begins to take on a life of its own. The story follows a lava beast that forms from the lava flowing down the middle of the painting. As in the natural world, the lava beast, who starts out as hot molten erupting out of the mountains, begins to change and slow down. Children are invited to empathize with the lava beast's feelings of confusion and sadness, as he experiences himself turning into cooled lava. In a dream encounter, the lava beast comes to understand who he is and where he comes from. Through this story, children explore the connection between imagination, dreams, and art as the story moves from the artist creating his painting to the imagined life of the images and back to the dreaming artist.
About the Author
Maria Mackavey was born in Greece and spent her childhood in Zambia, Africa. She received her BA and MA Degrees in English from the State University of New York at Albany and her doctorate degree in from Boston University. She has written and presented widely and has coauthored a book on work and family entitled Shared Purpose: Working Together to Build Strong Families and High-Performance Companies. Maria lives in Massachusetts with her husband, dog and two cats.