A Child's Book of Art: Great Pictures - First Words

Micklethwait, Lucy

ISBN 10: 1564582035 ISBN 13: 9781564582034

Publisher: Dk Pub, 1993

Synopsis

An introduction to art appreciation exposes young readers to more than one hundred works of art from a wide range of periods, cultures, and artists, and with subjects such as seasons, weather, and animals.

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Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A picture gallery with oversized pages filled with fine-art reproductions with simplistic labels, e.g., "bedroom," "two boys," "rainy," etc. Micklethwait writes in her "Note to Parents and Teachers" that they are to treat these paintings as they would "those in any other picture book." By this she means to experience them for their representational or emotional content and not to be inhibited by the "fine art" halo that too often surrounds such works. And the author merits a special "Bravo!" for her refusal to include sculpture because it "would lose too much of its magic on the printed page." There are more than 100 pictures here, sometimes three or four to a page, sometimes with a full page to themselves. They come from ancient Egypt and modern Europe, from Africa and Central America. It's an extensive collection with the majority from the Western world of the past 600 years. Surprisingly, there are only three female artists represented. The subjects also vary, e.g., "Six Ways to Travel," "More Colors," and "A Time to Sleep." The reproductions are all printed with great clarity and with considerable white space around them to facilitate individual attention. Full information about the original art objects is appended.
Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"It is never too early to introduce children to art," Micklethwait declares in her introductory note to parents and teachers. The carefully selected roundup of stunning art collected in this large-format volume--ranging from a detail from an Egyptian tomb painting that dates to 2550 B.C. to David Hockney's Le Plongeur , created in 1978 with paint and molded paper pulp--proves her point easily. Micklethwait wisely includes an abundance of paintings featuring children, action scenes and vibrant colors--all elements guaranteed to snare a youngster's attention. The thematic arrangement of the works of art places them in contexts familiar to kids (family, pets, colors, opposites, work and play), and words or basic phrases accompanying each painting (sisters, in the kitchen, playing in the sand, on the grass) will enable beginning readers to practice their new skills. Also noteworthy are the publisher's trademark exceptionally clean book design and the superb quality of the reproductions. Ages 2-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An enchanting alternative to Scarry's clumsily drawn ``Word Books'': an author whose specialty is introducing children to fine art (I Spy: An Alphabet in Art, 1992) presents almost 30 popular topics (including family, pets, action words, shapes, opposites, seasons, faces, ways to travel, ``A Time to Play,'' and, finally, ``A Time for Peace'') illustrated with handsomely reproduced paintings from six continents and many periods. With remarkable felicity, she arrays works in disparate styles into spacious, elegantly harmonious topical spreads; e.g., four rather quiet vignettes of ``Wild Animals'' on the left (a D�rer hare, a tortoise from a Turkish manuscript, an aboriginal Australian kangaroo, and a tiger by Henri Rousseau) are balanced by a vibrant, full-page assemblage of ``lots of animals'' (a 16th-century Indian painting). A sensible note encourages parents and teachers to ``treat these pictures as you would those in any other picture book''; the captioning words lead beautifully into many concepts that might be discussed--e.g., on the ``Five Senses'' spread, a 17th-century parent is ``smelling'' as she changes a diaper; a Cassatt child is ``seeing'' herself in a mirror; Michelangelo's Adam is ``touching'' God. Full citations for the art. A delightful, mind-expanding book. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 2+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 6-9. Micklethwait expands the idea she used so successfully in her I Spy Two Eyes: Numbers in Art in this combination concept and word book. The layout is spacious, and the reproductions are beautiful, with some large enough to be used effectively in class. Heavy on Western art, the selection also includes a sampling of work from Asian and other cultures, and while there could have been more contemporary examples, the works pictured still range widely--from a Greek vase painting and a detail from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling (no fig leaves, thank you) to paintings by modernist David Hockney. The pictures are grouped to illustrate broad subjects or concepts--work, boats, play, opposites, numbers--and each illustration is accompanied by a key word or phrase to guide the child who's looking at it. Although kids will see a rabbit instead of a "hare" and a turtle instead of a "tortoise," the word (the words aren't all "first words" in the traditional sense) and picture combinations work well. It's the opportunity to see paintings so different in technique side by side that is the book's crowning feature. The juxtaposition gives kids a wonderful chance to begin discovering their likes and dislikes as well as to see the many and beautiful ways art has evolved in other places and other times. Stephanie Zvirin

Edition details

• Publisher: Dk Pub
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1564582035
• ISBN 13: 9781564582034
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 64