I Spy: An Alphabet in Art (Hardcover)

~ Lucy Micklethwait (Author) "I spy with my little eye something beginning with Aa..." (more)
Key Phrases: little eye something beginning

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The perfect art book for small children is one that opens their eyes and makes them want to keep looking. I Spy, surely the most cultured alphabet book around, is just right. Parents can leave it out on a table and let it work its magic silently. Its cover picture--René Magritte's Son of Man, a painting of a man in a Homburg and overcoat who inexplicably has a green apple where his face ought to be--has just the right touch of whimsy to grab a toddler's attention, but older children (up to about age 80) should love it, too. Inside, there are 26 paintings: large, clear, colorful, and one to a page. Across from each plate is an alphabet letter, shown both capitalized and lowercase, and the words, "I spy with my little eye something beginning with..." The Magritte starts off the alphabet (A is for apple, of course), and then Henri Rousseau's Football Players keeps the ball rolling, so to speak. Lucy Micklethwait includes wonderful selections of pictures children can dream about, including an Indian painting, Workmen Building the Palace of Fatehpur Sikri (E for elephant), Goya's incomparable Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga (M for magpie), and Miró's Woman and Bird in the Moonlight (S for star). Click to see the spread with Marc Chagall's The Bride and Groom of the Eiffel Tower (V for violin). Compilation and text © 1992 by Lucy Micklethwait. Permission by Greenwillow Books. (Preschool and older) --Peggy Moorman --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

From the simplest of premises, Micklethwait has fashioned a remarkably rich investigation into the pleasures of looking at paintings. In search of an object beginning with a specific letter, the reader's eye roams pictorial worlds ranging from a 15th-century manuscript illumination to a David Hockney poolside. Spotting the clues hidden in abundant Dutch still lifes, vibrant genre scenes or a Goya portrait can be tricky, but the hunt is never dull, thanks to the author's unusually creative choices and their faithful reproduction. Often, more than one object in a painting satisfies the letter requirement, a subtle hint that art may prompt many questions and reward an alert viewer with multiple answers. Micklethwait understands this truth and uses it well; the images she has chosen will linger with children. All ages.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (September 16, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688116795
• ISBN-13: 978-0688116798
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #289,294 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ideal introduction to fine art for preschoolers!, January 8, 1998

By A Customer

As a parent, I'm always interested in expanding my children's personal horizons. Introducing our children to the world of fine art is a high priority in our family---but taking preschoolers to the art museum or a local gallery is oftentimes a disaster in the making!

Enter this lovely little book, "I Spy ~ An Alphabet in Art."

Remember the ageless game of I Spy?

"I spy with my little eye something that begins with A."

This book works its way through the entire alphabet letter by letter with a good-sized famous painting on each page. Classic works by Rousseau, Van Eyck, Picasso, Botticelli, Matisse, Miro', Renoir, Chagall, Seurat, and many others.

Many of the art books currently produced for children contain several small reproductions on each page. By limiting the art work to one large reproduction to each two-page spread, the child can focus on the painting without being distracted by other clutter on the page.

My two-year-old sat for an hour this afternoon entranced with the art. She would turn a page, prop herself up on her elbows, and gaze at the picture for a long time. Now and then, she'd come running over to me with the book in hand.

"Mommy! Look at the birds in the cage! The birds live in a cage...."

Art Appreciation in its simplest, most basic form. Seeing the painting for the first time---and then looking at it more intently to see beyond the initial first impressions.

For this busy mother with limited time and resources, it's a pleasure to find a book of this type. Brava, Lucy Micklethwait!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, August 2, 2002

By	apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Spy: An Alphabet in Art (Paperback)

This is a fantastic book. There is a different picture for every letter of the alphabet. Each picture is different in style, type, artist etc. There might be Japanese woodcuts, Picasso, watercolors and so on.

This is an excellent introduction to art and types of art and styles and artists.

Also, in each picture is something that goes with the letter of the alphabet. Ball for b and so on.

A great way to practice beginning sounds and letter recognition.

This is a lovely book with great pictures and there are many educational type things you can do while enjoying time with your child. Well worth the money.

Enjoy.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Book to Introduce Your Child to Art!, April 2, 2002

By	Alex (Auburn, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Spy: An Alphabet in Art (Paperback)

I can't tell you how wonderful this book is for me and my two-and-a-half year old daughter. It is such a delight to curl up in bed and turn the pages as she gleefully points out the item that starts with the letter A, B, C...and so on. We've only read it a handful of times, but she's already gotten each picture and letter memorized. It makes me so happy to be able to introduce her to fine art at such a young age and for her to find so much enjoyment from it. This is truly a gem of book for every parent & child's bookshelf!