Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude [Hardcover]

Jonah Winter (Author), Calef Brown (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: February 10, 2009 | Age Range: 4 and up | Lexile Measure: 390L (What's this?)

Gertrude

is Gertrude

is Gertrude

is Gertrude.

And Alice is Alice.

And Gertrude and Alice are Gertrude and Alice.

And you are welcome to join them for tea. But beware, for there you will find a bear in a chair, just barely scary. And here is a beard with a man attached to it. And then, of course, some words might appear, uninvited , but delighted in spite of their lightbulbs. But, but, but, but - that doesn't make any sense! Yes!

In a story inspired by the oh-so-modern groundbreaking writing of Gertrude herself, not a lot makes sense. Even so, the oh-so-popular author Jonah Winter, and the ever-so-popular illustrator Calef Brown, and the most popular poodle of all time, Basket, invite you to enter the whimsical world of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5 Up—Winter has cleverly constructed the briefest of introductions to the adult life of Gertrude Stein and the salon era during which she wrote. Using mimicry, he demonstrates the repetitive, rambling, nonsensical style that made the eccentric writer famous: "A sentence can be whatever, if you're Gertrude. You don't have to make sense (if you're Gertrude). You can write 'rose is a rose is a rose is a rose' if you're Gertrude." He describes her relationship with Alice B. Toklas: "Gertrude does the talking and laughing. And Alice makes sure that Gertrude is happy." Words and illustrations simulate the salons of the early 20th century where artists, writers, thinkers—Picasso, Matisse, and Hemingway are featured here—gathered to discuss the arts and culture of the day. The text is written in a variety of font sizes. Bright acrylic illustrations, set against backgrounds of orange, turquoise, rose, yellow, and ochre, meld perfectly with the text. Brown's avant-garde folk-style paintings include people with caricature faces and representations of "modern" paintings ("All art is modern when it's being made"). A short author's note offers a bit of information about Stein. Alas, due to its sophisticated topic, this creative, artistic piece will appeal to a limited audience.—Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
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From Booklist

Gertrude Stein holds court when Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, and lots of other artists and writers visit. Alice B. Toklas serves tea.Told in verse, with a wink to Stein’s own looping, playful, repetitive narrative style, this ebullient picture-book view of these famous figures becomes something of a dreamy impression. The Rockwell typeface, dancing across the page in ever-changing variations of boldness and size; the almost post-impressionistic acrylic paintings, brash and welcoming all at once; and the evocative bounce of the words all combine to echo the originality of Gertrude Stein’s vision, in a palpable way. Winter’s text creates an infectious, rhythmic web, while Brown’s pictures offer nods to the particular styles of the artists on display. The call for an impressionistic picture-book biography of Gertrude Stein may be limited, but this title’s joyful spirit and the ease with which it reads aloud will help it find a much broader audience. Grades 2-4. --Thom Barthelmess

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141694088X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416940883
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 11.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A picture book is a picture book is a... March 15, 2012

By Debnance at Readerbuzz

Format:Hardcover

Go ahead and call it a children's picture book, but I think you are wrong; the young children I read this book to looked at me in bewilderment.

It looks like a picture book. It reads like a picture book. But reading it to young children is like asking junior high students to read Great Expectations; it can be read, but it should be saved for those old enough to really appreciate it.

I, for one, loved it. It would probably be among my top picks for best nonfiction picture book for this year. It's bright and colorful. The text mimics the style of the subject, poet Gertrude Stein. It's funny. As Gertrude Stein might say, A picture book is a picture book is a picture book is a picture book. But sometimes it's not.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your everyday children's book -- it's intelligent, great illustrations March 12, 2010

By C. McGuire

Format:Hardcover

I'm surprised that the specs for this book state ages 9-12.

Both of my daughters, ages 2.5 and 5.5 ***love*** this book! It's one of their favorites.

It's written in very unusual style for a child's book -- apparently it's written the way Gertrude wrote.

Alice is also written a central part of her life, and I'm glad they aren't brushing her under the rug.

The illustrations are fantastic, very beautiful, and with a different palette on each page.

The text is all over the place, with font size changing to indicate emphasis, and not all lined up on a horizontal plane -- sometimes it's wavy or stacked.

Highly recommend this book for people who want to read outside the usual stack.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Time To Eat February 17, 2009

By H. E. C. Nevill

Format:Hardcover

A pleasant simple habitual and tyrannical and authorised and educated and resumed and articulate separation. This is not tardy.

(If you are a fan of 20th Century modern art and literature, you must add this to book to your child's library! It is a brilliant invitation to 27 Rue de Fleurus for all modern-revivalist toddlers. Calef Brown's captivating artwork brings Jonah Winter's Stein-like prose to life. This book is whimsical, modern, fun, semi-historical, and, above all, a perfect introduction to the abstract genius of Gertrude Stein, mother of the Lost Generation.)

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful January 25, 2011

By C. Stanford

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This child's book is written in Gertrude Stein's style of writing. Whimsical and also introduces children to famous artists who were part of Stein's circle, e.g. Picasso, Matisse. The issue of the relationship between Stein and Alice B. Toklas is subtly suggested.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Making abstract accessible March 18, 2009

By A. Vernick

Format:Hardcover

Modern, fun, silly and also kind of brilliant.

A perfect blend of interesting, lyrical, surprising language and engaging, whimsical illustration, this picture book offers an accessible introduction to a wonderful, modern life.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gertrude is Gertrude and Alice is Alice, of course! January 31, 2009

By Paris fan

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

At last a children's picture book devoted to Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas! And what an entertaining and fun introduction for both children and adults. The text reflects Gertrude's repetitive, terse style with a touch of humor which I think would also have made her laugh. The events and places chosen for the story accurately reflect aspects of GertrudeandAlice's life together ---whether their parties in Paris (with Picasso, Matisse and Hemingway), their picnics in the countryside, Alice's typing of Gertrude's manuscripts or jaunts with their poodle Basket. The brightly colored illustrations are reminiscent of the vibrant colors in the paintings that hung in their apartment in Paris and are creatively mingled with the text which is presented in small and large fonts. A wonderful book that children and adults will want to browse through over and over again to become a part of the lives of this remarkable couple!

Two small errors in the book--Basket their poodle was white not black and in the biographical note about Stein, the year of her birth is incorrect---should be 1874 not 1872. (Maybe these can be fixed in future editions!)

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing story filled with fine drawings by Calef Brown June 18, 2009

By Midwest Book Review

Format:Hardcover

Gertrude is Gertrude and Alice is Alice and readers are invited to join them for tea. Gertrude is a queen who knows famous writers and has some improbable names for pets in this intriguing story filled with fine drawings by Calef Brown.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A few caveats June 29, 2012

By Dudley

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

My daughter loves this book, and it has been a bedtime story staple from about 18 months. The paintings and quasi-Steinian prosody she found instantly compelling, and they remain so. Many will be tempted by its emulation of high modernist motifs and its apparent ability to familiarize very young children with cultural icons, many more will just find it fun. And if your kid gets to it first, they will decide based on whatever criteria they use. The latter will be less fussy than my own, since I am a bit of a scholar of Stein. For anyone considering this book, though, you might equally consider Stein's own books for children, THE WORLD IS ROUND and TO DO: A BOOK OF ALPHABETS. They have all the elements of this one, but without suffering from a few things that for me are important, and I thought worth mentioning.

I always skip several lines of text when reading this book to my daughter. More than several. Let's call it "quite a few." And here is why.

First, there is consistent misuse of the word modern. A line like "All art is modern when it is being made" is patently bogus usage. Modern refers to the historical/aesthetic period Stein represents, and it is not at all the same thing as saying "contemporary." One of Stein's most important and frequently read texts, "Composition as Explanation," is all about how and why this is so. It is also a funny, rhythmic, dynamic and accessible (in terms of its vocabulary) text, so how the authors of this children's book missed or misread it, I have to wonder. Even an attentive reading of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas should preclude this mistake.

There is needless reference to art collecting as commodity exchange. In fact, it is never mentioned that Stein collected art, but children are invited to buy paintings. Why?... This is a missed opportunity, at the very least. What Stein did was very close to curating, closer than to what most contemporary collectors do (many hire consultants). In a book encouraging youth to think critically about what they see, art is reduced to merchandise?

Modern art is repeatedly referred to as "crazy," this in a book that wants to legitimate and exalt some of its most daring innovators, particularly Picasso and Matisse. About Stein's own work, the authors insist that it doesn't "make sense." I think the point here is to use the kind of dumb objections children would risk hearing from their peers or even their teachers, were they to strike out and try something "fun." (By the way, I love the emphasis on the full range of emotions involved in aesthetic innovation, from anger to joy. My favorite line in the book is "Thank you for having fun when you write.") But it is quite unnecessary to amplify the thoughtless suggestion that non-normative grammar and non-mimetic visual forms lack deliberation or logic ("crazy") or don't compute or affect. If Stein's writing made no sense, why ape it here? Why do children love this book with their senses, adoring the colors and forms as well as the musicality of the language? Why not focus on and thus instill the virtues of this kind of work?

One answer is that the legend is easier to know than the truth. But that is because the former conceals the latter. My daughter also loves hearing Stein's own writing read aloud. She understands its virtues more than most fusty literati.

Anyway, these are important enough to me that I regularly skip over a lot of stuff. Yes, we'll call it "a lot." And it bugs me, really bugs me, every time I read the thing. That's getting to be a lot of bugging, seven buggings a week sometimes!

One lovely and subversive touch here is the use of the cow. I don't know if the authors are aware of this--they probably simply know that children like cows, pictures of them, the sounds they make, and even simply pronouncing the word "cow." But parents might enjoy knowing that "cow" was code for Toklas' bowel movements, and Stein fetishized them in both their private correspondence and in her published work (e.g. "As A Wife Has A Cow"). Read more ›