The Art of Ed Emberley

Spare Parts by Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley

​It all started with a thumbprint. Emberley's charming little volume, Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book started a whole new line of drawing books for kids: cartoons and characters that everyone could create. The premise? With a thumbprint as the base and a few simple lines, anyone could draw. Over the years I kept this book handy, not only for myself, but for students. It was fun. It was easy. It was great for inspiring creativity with a minimal amount of risk.

In the intervening years, Emberley's art has evolved. He has kept his creative flair, but enhanced it with bold ideas and images. Spare Parts with lively verse composed by Emberley's daughter Rebecca, introduces readers to Rhoobart.  This invented name cleverly embodies both the concepts and the sounds of the words robot, art, and part. Rhoobot's worries when it appears that he has no heart. The storyline follows his search for this essential body component.
Emberley ingeniously concocts Rhoobot from a variety of recognizable tools. Grey industrial gears serve as an excellent background to this heartwarming tale.

We're all spare parts.
We've got secondhand hearts,
It's true.

Worcester Art Museum ​is currently celebrating the art and legacy of Emberley with KAHBAHBLOOOM: The Art and Storytelling of Ed Emberley. This comprehensive retrospective explores his work over the past sixty years and includes an area where visitors can create their own drawings using Emberley's techniques. The show runs through April 9, 2017.

Companion Books

​One Wide River to Cross, with text adapted from an American folk song by wife Barbara, this picture book was awarded a 1967 Caldecott Honor Medal. This counting book is illustrated with silhouettes imposed on colorful backgrounds.

​Drummer Hoff, a collaboration with wife Barbara was received the 1968 Caldecott Medal. This cumulative rhyming tale tells of seven soldiers who build a cannon. The conclusion features Drummer Hoff who ignites the cannon's charge, setting off a riot of color