Customer Reviews

Oxford First Book of Art (Oxford First Books)

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Sometimes it seems as if there is never enough time for enrichment activities at school like art. I checked this book out from my local library hoping to find some inspiration for making some new art projects and later purchased it for my classroom. Since my elementary classroom has students with very disparate levels of English language ability, I needed a book that was written clearly enough to not discourage my ESL (English as a Second Language) students and yet not so simple that my more advanced English speakers would think of it as a "baby book."

This book was exactly what I needed with clear concise language and an abundance of beautiful color paintings and illustrations. There were also "look closer" sections for each topic, which gave useful prompts and questions to encourage further exploration by students. Suggested activities were also tremendously useful in translating learning about art into projects that my students could enjoy. Difficult words were also printed in bold so as to make vocabulary review easier for students. We ended up making a Van Gogh "The Starry Night" project and learned about foreground and background as well as color and light. The children loved it and that says a lot for often-difficult-to-please sixth graders.

I highly recommend this book as an introduction to art for third through sixth graders.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

This book is easy to use and is very informative. It provides simple, yet insightful guidelines for looking at a variety of works. It also provides some creative activities to further the learning process. We have tried most of the suggested activities and found them to be both fun and challenging with fine results from within the suggested age range. An excellent investment for both rainy days and summer fun.

I just read this book with my daughter. It is great for the art beginners, for all people who are not exposed to art because they do not go to classical art galleries or do not live in old Europe.

The book is very well arranged. It divides art into different subjects - like "faces", "shapes", "autumn". It shows several examples for each subject. The examples not only use a different technique, related to the subject but they also come from different epoch and different culture. The author describes briefly the art scene and then asks some questions which focus on some details of the pictures or their different meaning which may not be seen immediately.

For instance the chapter about "patterns" exhibit a beautiful gold picture/mosaic by Klimt (early XX century), next to the Australian aboriginal mozaic (folk art) and the royal portrait of Queen Elizabeth the 1st made during Renaissance.

It also has wonderful activities related to each subject.

I really recommmend it not only for kids but also for art beginners

This book was received in excellent condition. I was very happy with the price especially after I saw how great the book looked.This book will come in very handy with our art studies. Homeschooling mom of two.