(2) K-3 Illustrated by Aimée Sicuro. Brown's debut picture-book biography of Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011) limns her creative childhood, dutiful art study, and early career in mid-twentieth-century NYC. Once Frankenthaler develops her trademark "soak-stain" technique, the rhythmic text mirrors that kinetic process: "Helen grabbed a bucket of crimson and...POURED...setting her colors FREE." Sicuro's watercolor, ink, and charcoal-pencil illustrations reinforce the ideas of movement and color saturation. An appended art project helps everything seep in. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2019

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Harvey Stevenson & Harvey Stevenson. In poetic text, a girl describes a Christmas visit to her grandmother's house in Pennsylvania coal country. There is happiness in the visit as well as sadness: the girl's grandfather's empty rocker reminds her of "The lung sickness that comes to those / who go deep into the mines day after day...." Stevenson's muted acrylics evoke the wintertime warmth of family but also quietly capture a sometimes harsh way of life.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute