A History of Pictures for Children - a review

A History of Pictures for Children: From Cave Paintings to Computer Drawings
By David Hockney and Martin Gayford
Illustrated by Rose Blake
Abrams, 2018

In A History of Pictures, art critic Martin Gayford teams up with artist David Hockney to deliver an enlightening and entertaining discourse on art.  The Introduction explains the book's format.  It is an illustrated discussion between the artist and the art critic, each offering commentary on what he knows best.  Gayford offers a more scholarly look at the history of an artistic period or work of art—the what and when, while Hockney offers an artists' perspective on the same—the why and the how.

Their conversations are accompanied by photos of actual  art pieces, and cartoon illustrations by Rose Blake. Blake's playful illustrations add a lightness to the book and advance the conversation, showing simple explanations of concepts like depth and perspective, as well as explanations of early artistic tools like 16th century pinhole projectors, 18th century silhouette machines, and 19th century zoetropes. The authors and the illustrator appear in cartoon format throughout the book. The topics of each chapter are listed below.

Engaging and educational, A History of Pictures for Children should be in every school and public library.  The suggested age range is 10-14 however, it will likely appeal to older kids with artistic interests as well.  I would go so far as to suggest that adults will find it interesting also.  I found it thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Well done!

 

Chapters:
Thinking About Pictures: Why do we make pictures?
Making Marks: What makes an interesting mark?
Light and Shadows: What is a shadow exactly?
Watch this Space: How do artists set the scene?
Mirrors and Reflections: How do artists play with light?
Painting and Photography: What tools do artists use?
Moving Pictures: Can pictures really move?
The Story Goes On: What's next for pictures?

Back matter includes an illustrated Timeline of Inventions, Glossary, Bibliography, List of Illustrations, and Index

Paint me a Picture - a review

Paint Me a Picture
A Colorful Book of Inspiration
by Emily Bannister
Kane Miller, June, 2017

An edited version of my review appears in the February, 2017, edition of School Library Journal. 

Looking for a color mixing concept book? Go with Mouse Paint. Wishing for a fanciful romp through colors? Read Swatch: the Girl Who Loved Color. Seeking to inspire a child to pick up a paintbrush and give it a try? Paint me a Picture will suit you just fine.

• Another review of Paint Me a Picture is on NC Teacher Stuff.
• View sample pages and a full description of the Paint Me a Picture on the publisher's website.

Note:

My copy of Paint Me a Picture was provided by School Library Journal.

Mouse and Hippo - a review

Mouse and Hippo
By Mike Twohy
Paula Wiseman Books, 2017


How does a mouse view a hippo? How does a hippo view a mouse? And more importantly, can they be friends? Mouse and Hippo is an entertaining commentary on artistic perspective, but at heart, it's a comical story of friendship.

On a shelf near you beginning in February, 2017.

My complete review of Mouse and Hippo is in the January, 2017 edition of School Library Journal.

Advance Reader Copy provided by School Library Journal.

Picture Book Roundup - kind, find, and confined

It's been a while since I've done a picture book roundup.  Here are three that struck my fancy:

Kind. This boy is the best!

Have you seen Elephant? 

Written and illustrated by David Barrow.
Gecko Press, 2016

A kind young boy plays hide-and-seek with his elephant friend and takes care to keep the game going, despite the fact that his friend is a very poor hider! Have you seen Elephant? is bright and cheerful and funny, and above all - kind. This is the first book I've seen from Gecko Press and the first by David Barrow. I love it!





Confined? Can the colortamer catch them all?

Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color

Written and illustrated by Julia Denos
Balzer Bray, 2016

Bright, bold, and expressive, Swatch is a color tamer - trapping and using colors in the most fantastic of ways. A bold and fearless artist, no color had escaped her artistic eye ... no color but one,

"Morning came, and there it was, fast fading and fierce, the King of All Yellows, blooming in the sidewalk crack in spite of the shadows. Swatch was ready .... At last, Yellowest Yellow would be hers."

Or would it?

This is the first book that Julia Denos has written as well as illustrated. I would love this book even if my favorite color were not the hero of the story!


Find. Where is that cat?

Spot, the Cat 

Illustrated by Henry Cole
Little Simon, 2016

A beautifully detailed, wordless book - more than just a seek-and-find, it follows the path of an adventurous cat in the city and the boy who wants to find him. Join the young boy and search the city for Spot, the cat.

Art Detective: Spot the Difference! a review

Remember when the Summer Reading theme was "Be Creative?" If you have an artistic inclination, those were the days - with painting, sculpture, and other creative arts in the forefront!  With the continued focus on the CCSS, and the upcoming science-driven theme of "Fizz, Boom, Read!", art runs the risk of being lost in the shuffle.  Thankfully, there is an effort to combine them - turning STEM into STEAM - adding Art to the traditional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Here, however, is a book that's all art - specifically, painting.  Enjoy!

Kutschbach, Doris. 2013. Art Detective: Spot the Difference! New York: Prestel.

With the help of a cartoon dog named Charlie, readers explore famous paintings in an attempt to convict an art forger.

Hello! My name is Carl, but my friends call me Charlie the Sleuth.  I'm a detective who solves art crimes, and right now I'm working on a very difficult case.  It's about a shady artist and his forgeries - paintings he offers for sale that aren't really what they appear to be.   ...   Do you think you could help?  

... and with that, the reader (now an art detective) begins a page-by-page quest to spot the differences between famous paintings and forgeries.  Some are humorous.  In "The Sunday Stroll" by Carl Spitzweg, the portly father in the forgery sports a Pinocchio nose and a baseball cap.  Others are more subtle - the color of a parasol, insects in the tall grass.  In all, nineteen paintings (and their accompanying "forgeries") are presented, including VanGogh, Gaugin, Rousseau, and Cézanne. Each has 15-25 differences.

What makes this book so wonderful is that it invites a deep exploration of each painting.  Is greater realism produced by the blemish on a Cézanne melon?  Does the addition of a bird in Passarro's "Place du Théâtre" detract from the hustle and bustle of Parisian citizens? These are not questions that kids will answer, but subconsciously, they may begin to see them. The reader cannot simply flip through the pages.  If he does, the forger will not be found. By noting each mistake, he is compelled also to notice the aesthetic produced by the artist's choices.

The final pages offer thumbnails of each painting with the differences marked by X's.  A note is included about each painting, it's painter, and noting its current location.

Enjoy the search!


Note:
This book is marked with the seal of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), indicating that its paper was derived from "responsible sources."  This is the first time I've seen this logo.  I hope to see it more often!

Don't miss today's Nonfiction Monday postings, and be sure to catch up on all of the great posts on 

KidLit Celebrates Women's History Month!  

George Bellows: Painter with a Punch!

Burleigh, Robert. 2012. George Bellows: Painter with a Punch! New York: Abrams.

New York City painter George Bellows (1882-1925) was a member of what  became known as the Ashcan School of painting because

he is among a group of artists who focus on the less romantic parts of the city, like bars, train stations, movie theaters, and alleyways.

He was taught by the well-known, Robert Henri, who encouraged his students to seek out scenes worthy of being painted.

George listens, looks, and learns.  He sees that painting can be a great adventure.  He becomes what Henri calls a "sketch hunter."  When not in class, George wanders the streets, looking for new or different scenes to paint.   Excited, alert, he feels his life is beginning in a completely new way.

Eventually, he becomes best known for his paintings of boxing matches in New York City's "clubs," which were created by saloon owners to side-step the city's boxing ban.

More than a picture book biography, George Bellows: Painter with a Punch!, offers readers an insight into an era of early 20th century New York history that includes industrial growth, socialism, poverty and the immigrant experience as well as the birth of a movement toward realism in American paintings.  Not just a painter, Bellows was also a sketch artist whose work appeared in Harper's Weekly and other publications.  An affable man with a loving wife and family, his story is inspiring and informative.

Burleigh's briskly moving prose is accompanied by photos of Bellows (he was a promising baseball player when young) and more than twenty large spreads of his paintings and sketches.

A helpful section, "Where to See Works by George Bellows," is included, with state-by-state listings. Check first, however, if you plan to look for any of his paintings this summer.  Some, including one from the only New Jersey institution housing his work, are on loan to the National Gallery of Art. The National Gallery of Art is featuring a George Bellows Exhibition from June 10 - October 8, 2012.

This print from Harper's Weekly,
does not appear in the book, but illustrates Bellows'
penchant for depicting the seamier side of
life in New York City.
(image from NYPL digital gallery)

Best for older readers, art teachers, aspiring artists, and those with an interest in the history of New York City and the historical significance of art in boxing.  Though neither a student of art nor a boxing aficionado, I love this book!

Middle-grade teachers that do not permit or make use of picture book nonfiction such as George Bellows: Painter with a Punch! are missing a great resource.

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is at Simply Science.

Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse - a review

Lewis, J. Patrick and Jane Yolen. 2011. Self Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions.

Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers pairs the art of Marc Chagall with the talent of writers, Jane Yolen and Patrick L. Lewis, for a result that is illuminating in every sense of the word.

"There's never been anybody since [Pierre-Auguste] Renoir who has the feeling for light that Chagall has," Pablo Picasso once said. "[W]hen [Henri] Matisse dies, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is."  Chagall himself wrote that "there is a single color ... which provides the meaning of life and art.  It is the color of love."

 Such is the praise that Chagall received from his contemporaries and is related in Self-Portrait. Marc Chagall's use of color and light makes his work particularly appealing to children.  Chagall's art is the ingredient from which dreams may be made; and dreams and colors are things that children know intimately. But aside from a child's natural attraction to Chagall's colorful paintings on a purely visceral level, Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen make Chagall's art accessible through words, poetry, history, and examination. 

Paintings or works are presented in roughly chronological order, each chosen to represent a period in Chagall's life.  Each is paired with a poem by Yolen or Lewis, which gives context and definition to both the artwork and Chagall's life.  Opposite "My Fiancee in Black Gloves," Yolen writes, borrowing words from Chagall's first wife, Bella Rosenfeld.

"I was surprised at his eyes,
they were so blue as the sky,
and oblong, like almonds,"
Bella writes, and having written,
falls in love, she so young and rich,
and he but a poor apprentice,
working for a Russian painter
he will one day eclipse,
a sun over Bakst's pale moon.
Did she know how he would rise
like an angel into the sky
on that first day they met,
having tea at Teja's house,
or the next time on the bridge
when he and Teja walked the dog,
and Marc's curly hair spilling
out from under his hat.
Or did she just fall in love
with the surprise of his blue eyes?

Each poem is accompanied by a shaded box, offering facts about each particular period in Chagall's life, including his home, marriage, paintings, colleagues, friends, and the effects of war, politics and circumstances on his very existence and his work. 

Yolen's poetic additions to Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers ("with seven fingers" is a Yiddish phrase meaning "done well" or "adroitly done") are free-form in nature when compared with Lewis' more measured and often rhyming verse, however, all flow seamlessly and complement Chagall's work, sometimes inviting deeper exploration of the painting - offering almost a "seek-and find" challenge to the reader,

 From "I and the Village"

I hailed a milkmaid standing on her head
I saw a cow a-milking in a cow's head
I watched a peasant off to canvas tillage
I met the very universe in a village.
I spied a blossom sprig, a tree of life
I loved Vitebsk in glory and in strife
I scanned a multitude of images, with mirror
I etched a dream and strove to make it clearer
I solved the riddle imagined by a child
I sketched a field, geometry gone wild
I knew myself, white lips, my face in green
I drew the cow's contentment in between.

 Rounding out this exquisite book are photographs of Chagall, footnotes explaining the occassional Yiddish word or unfamiliar name, a table of contents, and source list.

Any art teacher introducing Marc Chagall without the benefit of this book is missing a great opportunity!

Highly recommended.

Today's Nonfiction Monday is at Tales from the Rushmore Kid.  Stop by.

Dumpling Days

Lin, Grace. 2011. Dumpling Days. New York: Little Brown.

(Advance Reader Copy supplied by publisher - artwork not final)

(a booktalk)
In Dumpling Days, Pacy Lin, her parents and two sisters (one older, one younger) are going to Taiwan for Pacy's grandmother's 60th birthday - for 28 days! Twenty-eight days?!  What is Pacy supposed to do for 28 days without her friends in a country where she may look like everyone else, but inside, she's definitely not. At least there will be dumplings!

Pacy Lin is Grace Lin's semi-autobiographical character from her previous books, The Year of the Dog and the Year of the Rat.  In Dumpling Days, Grace Lin has made a departure from her earlier books.  Breaking out of "The Year of the" formula, with its limited page numbers, Dumpling Days is a longer book (approximately 265 pages), that offers Lin a chance to explore many facets of Chinese art, food, and culture,  as well as offer deeper glimpses into the lives of Pacy's sisters, Lissy and Ki-Ki, and even their parents,

Mom and Dad had told us about how they had moved to the United States, but I hadn't thought about their not understanding TV commercials, not being able to order food, being ignored because you didn't speak the language - all the things I found hard here in Taiwan.  Maybe when Mom ad Dad were first in America, everything was just as strange and confusing to them as Taiwan was to me now. It was surprising to think about.

A beautifully concise thought channeled through the voice of a young girl, easily undertood and profoundly important. In addition to offering cultural perspective, through the family's travels and activities, the reader learns much about the Chinese/Taiwanese culture.