I wish I’m like Niko who can express his feelings without hesitation in his little book. What a delightful little book to share with a child to encourage them to draw and keep a sketchbook. The illustrations are vintage-styled and filled with color and expressive lines.

As someone who keeps art journals and even paints in her Bible, I sure identified with Niko!

Niko is a special boy who loves to draw.. unfortunately his work is often misunderstood because his drawings are of his feelings and thoughts rather than more concrete representations of things like the sun and ice cream trucks. When his new neighbor Iris arrives, Niko finally has a friend who understands him. I love this book and will introduce it to my third graders who will benefit from the message that it's ok to be different, being unique isn't a deficit, it's an asset.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley who graciously let me review this book so I could give it an honest review!

This is a lovely story about feeling different. I also like the way it explains abstract art. It also tells the kids that their artwork is important, even if it doesn’t look like a dog or a horse.

Amazing book to teach emotions in art. Niko draws a feeling also be great for classroom discussions about how not everyone is going to love all of your creations/ideas that could tie to other discussions about innovations, acceptance, and friendship.

Title: Niko Draws a Feeling
By: Bob Raczka Illustrations by: Simone Shin
Genre: Picture Book, Realistic Fiction
Interest Level: K-3
Lexile Level: 530 AD
Review by: Liz Kilibarda

Niko finds artistic inspiration all around him. He sees colors and shapes in the sounds of the ice cream truck’s bell. He interprets the robin’s hard work through his sketches. His teacher asks, “Where is the robin?” Niko answers, “It’s not a robin. It’s her hard work.” People don’t always understand Niko’s art. One day Niko meets his new neighbor, Iris. She notices his colored pencils and sketch pad and asks to see his work. Niko responds, “You might not like them.” Iris answers, “But I might.”

Simone Shin’s bright acrylic paints bring the story to life. The swirls, sparks, and squiggles invite the eyes to travel along the page and embrace Niko’s vision. The characters are adorably illustrated and reflect a multicultural neighborhood. Raczka’s story encourages readers to be bold and creative.

Pair “Niko Draws a Feeling” with “The Noisy Paint Box The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art” by Barb Rosenstock and pictures by Mary Grandpre. Both stories explore the idea of depicting the feelings and sounds around us through vibrant visuals. Highly Recommended.

Niko loves to draw the world around him. Everything inspires him, and ideas flow through him, from his brain down to his fingers. He captures feelings, not images: the ring-a-ling of an ice cream truck; the warmth of the sun; the hard work of a mother robin building a next. No one seems to understand Niko. They're looking for the bell of the truck; the sun and Niko's face; the mother robin. Niko captures the feelings these things inspire, but no one seems to grasp that, until he meets Iris, a new girl moving into the neighborhood. She understands exactly what he has to say, because she feels, rather than looks.


I adore this book. It reaches in and touches the reader, just like Niko's drawings. Younger children will appreciate that someone out there understands what they're trying to communicate, much like Niko and Iris finding one another. Raczka and Shin create a story that relies on feelings and emotions inspired by the world around us, and reminding us that art, like feeling, is abstract, and able to be communicated in many ways. Simone Shin's mixed media, digital and acrylic paints give us a world that looks like it could have been drawn by Niko himself.


There are so many ways to use this book beyond a simple storytime. Ask kids to draw their own feelings, their own experiences of the world around them. Let them explain what they see, and see it with them. Pair this with Andrew Larsen and Mike Lowery's A Squiggly Story for a great storytime on self-expression and art.