The Toronto Stars reviews If Found…

Gravel’s nutty imagination and humour are vitally apparent in this version of her personal sketchbook. In part she gives tips to artists (four points of advice: draw! make mistakes! don’t get discouraged! practice!) but mostly, she shows how accessible and fun drawing can be. “In my notebook . . . I give myself the right to fail, to mess up, to create ugly drawings . . . I let out all the ideas that are bouncing about in my head. Ridiculous ideas, crazy ideas, bizarre ideas . . .,” she writes. Then we view pages and pages of vibrantly coloured, wacky creatures, plants, worm slippers and even a fart festival. “Flibberty-whippets,” the “glopple,” a vampire potato and a gallery of “imaginary friends” get full play. This makes for an hilariously strange, wonderful picture book, but it’s also an explosively inventive, kid-respecting guide by an experienced artist for those who are just beginning. Good for doodlers, would-be cartoonists and anyone with a fistful of markers and a sense a humour. Definitely a potential source of summer-long entertainment.