From School Library Journal
Grade 3-6–Creating an art-appreciation book for children that is both substantive and interactive is a challenging undertaking. This title succeeds admirably in certain respects. The die-cut cover arouses curiosity about the guilty facial expressions on Georges de La Tour's card players. The reproductions of masterpieces, which range from the 14th-century illumination of the month of August from
The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry by Jean de Limbourg to Marc Chagall's
Song of Songs IV, are exceptionally focused and vibrant, and the glossy, cream card stock provides a pleasing background. Each spread includes the painting on the left page and two flaps with details on the right. Underneath the central flap are bulleted directives and questions–and some answers. Unfortunately, there is not always a relationship between the queries and the highlighted scenes, so the choices seem arbitrary. A number of the questions are merely quantitative (How many birds are on the tree?) and do not engage higher-level thinking skills. Brief formal and biographical notes are located under the flap and again at the end, adding to the somewhat chaotic arrangement. The second flap reveals four samples from each artist's palette. When a book looks this good, one would hope that the approach would be equally dazzling. Henry Sayre's
Cave Paintings to Picasso (Chronicle, 2004) manages to cover interesting formal and contextual considerations with more global examples and a narrative and design that are quite accessible. Libraries will want to own both titles.
–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Caroline Desnoëttes is a painter, designer, and author of books for children and adults. She lives in France.
