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$14.66
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An absolutely lovely book. I bought it for my 18 month old great-nephew who is in love with books that show creative colors and images. He knows birds from bees and butterflies and identifies each. While he's very respectful of his books (for an 18 month old), I was very pleased with how sturdily bound the book was and the quality of the paper. I suspect this will be a book he'll keep for decades.You can tell by the image I've included, how happy he was.
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The The Iridescence of Birds by Patricia MacLachlan wasn’t what I expected. From the title, I assumed it would be about birds. When I discovered that it was about an artist, I prepared myself instead to read a straightforward biography. Again, MacLachlan surprised me, for her picture book is anything but ordinary. The text is poetic and the illustrations echo Henri Matisse’s own evolving palette.
This dreamy picture book is proof that adults can learn new things. For example, with much apologies to those of my readers who are artists, I knew nothing before about Henri Matisse. Now I know that he lived in France. His mother painted plates and brought red rungs to hang on the walls. She let Matisse mix paint colors, as well as arrange fruits and flowers brought from market. Moreover, the family raised pigeons. The title refers to the fact that as a boy, Matisse watched the movements of these pigeons. He observed their colors that changed with the light as they moved, a concept that his mother informed him meant iridescence. Incidentally, despite my college-level vocabulary, this is a new word for me. Certainly, a selling point for me about The Iridescence of Birds is how much I learned, without really realizing it. That’s always the best way!
Next, I’d like to talk about MacLachlan’s style. It’s a little unorthodox, in that MacLachlan tells her whole story in one long sentence. It’s also speculative in nature, being worded as a book-length query. Yet it works. Each phrase leads to the next, with the final one ending with a question mark. It makes for a quiet and somewhat meandering book that perfectly captures an idyllic childhood. According to MacLachlan, she had experienced a difficult time trying to find a publisher for The Iridescence of Birds.Read more ›
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While the writing is luminous and beautiful, the illustrations are NOT vivid, as one reviewer claims--and as they should be. They are flat, flat, flat, and HUGELY disappointing. Iridescence means light, almost glittering. Whether it was the paper or ink choice on the publisher's part, I am not able to gift or recommend this book, and I would have given it to several artist nieces. I can't even keep it on my shelf as I would like to. Roaring Brook, you did a huge disservice to the author, the illustrator, and Matisse.
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A wonderful book that I read about on the Brainpickings weekly blog and ordered right away for my "grandchildren of choice". Mothers reported that it was a hit! It is a beautifully written & illustrated very simple biography of Matisse--highly recommended for the artistic child!
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I fell in love with art history classes in a senior level humanities class and wished art history had been part of the school curriculum all along. When I became a teacher and principal, I introduced great art to children as young as three in our pre-school program and continued it through eighth grade. We learned the names of paintings and artists through the use of large posters of art from Art museums which I glued onto foam core. Parents of one of our kindergarten students said they took their child to Manhattan and on an elevator there was a poster of an exhibition of Matisse. The student said to their surprised parents, "Oh, look - there's a picture by Matisse." We had an artist of the week each week so that by the end of the year students could identify 52 major art works.
This book illustrates the art influences of the artist Matisse. His mother painted plates and put them on the wall. (That would be a fun art project to do after reading this book with your child or students.) Matisse was also fascinated by the iridescence of pigeons the book informs us. Then there was the fabric weaving in the town in which he lived. The art work in this book looks like some of Matisse's paintings. After reading this book it would be fun to buy a calendar of Matisse's work, or an inexpensive book of his art work, and tear out the pages to create a bulletin board display. If you want to introduce young children to fine art, this is a fun and colorful introduction.
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Beautiful book for the unusual child who appreciattes the beauty of birds and of art and who is never too grown up to look at a special book about both.
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This item: The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse
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