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100% written and illustrated by kids ages 6-13

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The Person Who Screamed

Artwork: The Scream by Edvard Munch I penetrated the famous artwork with my gaze as I imagined myself inside the painting–glorious, I thought. The colors swirled around the painting–some wobbly, some wavy. I studied the face of the person who screamed. It was as though the world around you would shake for a moment–to share the horror with you. The Scream was something quite extraordinary, I stated in my mind. It was a little scary, but it somehow expressed sadness, anger, and shock all the same. I continued to scan the painting on my computer screen, searching for a story of the person who screamed. For a moment, I capture the time as the artist, Edvard Munch, channeling all his focus onto and into the canvas. Then I am one of the people in the artwork standing by the side of the painting, watching curiously at the person who screamed. It is a high, but low sound that dragged across the artwork. The person who screamed clutching the sides of its skull-like face, begging so hard for everything to be alright once again. I turned off the computer and settled onto the living room couch, picking up a book to read. Still, I could hear, screaming, low, high, long, dragging, devastating… One stroke of the paintbrush, a moaning begins to develop, another stroke, a low wailing, another, and another slowly builds up the scream. The colors around the person who screamed were vivid, bright, intimidating, and dizzy. I close my eyes–I am the person who screamed–A piercing screech fills the air, I take a second before I realize that my mouth was open. My pupils grew smaller and I wobbled on the bridge, ignoring the onlookers that stared at me. I felt overcoming tragedy sweep over me like a rough old broom over a dusty floor. I felt like giving up, really–it was too much for me, it made me want to turn into a pile of ashes, at least, then I would have peace. Maybe I would turn into a pile of ashes, I thought, unfocused. I was back on the couch of the living room, firmly clutching the poor book in my hand, shaken but awed by the imaginary experience in my head. I felt a pang of pity for the person who screamed–The Scream was a painting that perfectly captured horror. Think of it as a person who would scream soundlessly forever because something, or someone had caused trouble; but then, life is full of stumbling blocks and answers to them. Ella Yamamura, 12, Cary, NC


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Re-Looking at a Masterpiece

You can’t love a piece of art and not look at it just one time. It is impossible and it shows you really have no care for the art. “Garden at Giverny” by Claude Monet (shown above) is a beautiful painting of a garden but if you look at its beautiful garden a few times then you see much more than what you saw the first time. The first time you may have seen some flowers, a few trees, and a small pond in the background but the second time you notice the small details that make the art much more interesting. Maybe you see details in the flowers, or a peculiar object in the pond, or you could see an animal basking in the light. Perhaps, you searched up the story of “Garden at Giverny” and you now know the backstory and you see it differently than you did before. You may now notice that those flowers you saw were Iris’, or you now realize the trees were willow trees and you now have a fascination for them, or perhaps now you know that the garden was noticeable from Monet’s bedroom window. Or possibly, you could see a completely different story. You may have once seen the artwork as just artwork or a simple story but now you could have seen the artwork as a much bigger story, or a story at all. When I see this artwork again and again, I see different perspectives and different stories to the artwork. It is not just artwork; it is a story. Next time, read your book again, or look at the artwork again and think and see it differently. Maybe even someone else will see it the same way. So try and Re-look the masterpiece.