A young girl narrates this picture-book exploration of creativity, the artistic process, and the role of imaginative play, making an argument for the idea that there is no "right" way to make art, and no "perfect" that needs to be achieved. Together, the girl and her panda - drawn, or perhaps imagined, from the stuffed panda in her room - experiment with all kinds of ways to make a picture...

Published this past year (2020), When I Draw a Panda is the second picture-book that Amy June Bates both wrote and illustrated, following upon her 2018 The Big Umbrella. She has also illustrated numerous picture-books by other authors. I found it enjoyable, appreciated the depiction of a child wrapped up in her own creative, imaginative world, and agreed with the message that there is no right or wrong way to make art. That said, this one didn't particularly stand out to me - when it comes to this kind of thing, I prefer titles like Peter Reynold's The Dot or Sky Color - and I suspect I won't have a strong memory of it, in a year's time. Although not destined to become a personal favorite of mine, I do recommend it to picture-book readers looking for new titles addressing the themes of creativity and imagination. Perhaps it will make more of an impression with them. ( )