(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lewis E. B.. "SNAP!" The camera clicks on a young boy creating chalk art. "SNAP!" The camera finds a crumpled soda can on the street. Photographer DeCarava (1919–2009) depicts the people, places, and spirit of Harlem. A spare, poetic text emphasizes his love for the neighborhood where he grew up, which was the subject of his long, prolific career. In addition to his photography and other artwork, DeCarava also taught for more than three decades. Lewis's realistic illustrations take on a painterly tone with soft, muted colors and effective play between light and shadow. The watercolors create a fluid, dreamy world where DeCarava could quietly snap away while walking the streets of Harlem on a warm, sunny afternoon. The pictures portray a neighborhood in motion, not directly aware of the artist who spent a lifetime reflecting the vibrancy of a place and people. Back matter gives biographical information and a timeline of the artist's life, providing a more complete picture of one of the most influential Black photographers of our time.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Nabila Adani. The Al-Qarawiyyin Library of Fez, which serves as the first-person narrator of this nonfiction picture book, beckons the reader to hear the tale of its founding, glory days, disrepair, and restoration. From a humble start ("I began as a small corner for books") within a Moroccan mosque founded in 859 CE by Fatima al Fihri, the library becomes a grand part of Al-Qarawiyyin University, a place of tranquility, reflection, and learning. Though the knowledge held within its walls is a constant, amid changing kingdoms and threat from a great fire, the library falls into disuse. Passing by the building as a child, Aziza Chaouni, who holds a familial connection to the library, later returns as an adult architect. Her team restores and preserves the library and its materials for generations of learners to come. Khan's poetic text is accompanied by Adani's equally gentle, textured imagery of geometric patterns, tiles, and architectural features of Fez. The digital illustrations are further enriched with small details from Kufic script in the Qur'an to the variety of skin tones and dress styles displayed. An author's note, a glossary, and references are included in the back matter. A lovingly told ode to libraries, Islamic intellectual history, storytelling, and the role of women in Muslim history.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(1) K-3 There are many misconceptions about what art is and what it should do. An inquisitive brown-skinned girl wants to know more about art and asks a series of simple yet profound questions about it. Each question is answered by a different artist, ranging from ancient to modern, world-famous to regionally known. Unlike many art surveys, this book presents a truly global perspective, putting Indigenous and non-Western art side-by-side with well-known Western artists as well as conceptual and avant-garde work. The girl asks questions such as "Can nothing be art?"; "Art can also be sad, right?"; and "Can art be something that I use?" The answers depend on who is doing the responding. Replies vary for the question "How long will it take to make art?": a minute (Keith Haring); an hour (Eric Carle); a hundred hours (Christine Harvey). Should art look like what we see? An impressionist would answer with a hearty yes, but a post-impressionist like Van Gogh might think it's better "when art looks like how I feel." Digitally rendered illustrations feature each artist and a representation of their work. Back matter provides information on each artist and may spark hours of further research and discovery. A thoughtful look at art that will likely motivate budding artists to trust their creative intuition.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Hadley Hooper. Spare, poetic text and illustrations rich in color and detail provide a unique insight into a well-known artist. Beginning in well-trodden territory with descriptions of O'Keeffe's (1887–1986) flower paintings, Robinson quickly directs the story to the artist's later life and the ways that not only the natural landscape of New Mexico but also the nourishing acts of tending a garden and feeding friends inspired her art. The text is lean but full of evocative details. Hooper's illustrations focus on the things O'Keeffe loved -- landscapes and natural materials take precedence over people, who are often sketched in black and white over the riot of color of a table of food or a garden full of flowers. One memorable page-turn first shows a young Georgia surrounded by the kinds of small natural objects that intrigued her; on the following spread, many of the same objects are shown much larger and more painterly, leaping out of an older O'Keeffe's head. Back matter includes brief biographical information, more details about some of her sustainable gardening techniques, a list of sources, and O'Keeffe's recipe for pecan butterball cookies.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat. Barton explores glitter, a source of fascination (and frustration), diving into the science, history, and entrepreneurship that created the material we know today. He doesn't shy away from the drawbacks, from everyday irritations to the serious environmental impact of microplastics to the exploitation of child labor in the mining industry. But he also explores the joys of glitter, including why people have always been attracted to things that shine and sparkle. From the early days of using mica and beetle shells to create something shiny to new innovations intended to make glitter more ecologically friendly, Prabhat's colorful, layered, collage-style digital illustrations capture its messy allure. Many spreads are flecked with small shapes, evoking glitter's ubiquitous quality. Whether they love the stuff or loathe it, readers will find something here to pique their curiosity. Back matter includes an author's note on Barton's research process, an illustrator's note, sources, and suggestions for further reading.

Reviewer: Laura Koenig | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. In this engaging and child-friendly overview of Fasanella's (1914-1997) life and evolution as a self-taught, working-class artist, Broyles highlights the man's "rambunctious," resilient, and independent nature, even as a child. His hard-working Italian immigrant parents had limited resources and a large family to care for. As a boy, Fasanella accompanied his father as he delivered blocks of ice through the tenements of New York City. He listened to his factory-worker mother as she shared her strong beliefs about unionizing to improve working conditions. He was in and out of a Catholic reform school and worked odd jobs throughout the Great Depression before joining a union and learning to paint in his early thirties. He honed his craft and found his voice in his visual representations of family, baseball, and daily existence. He also documented momentous events (the March on Washington, the Kennedy assassination) and their impact on Americans, saying that "any good painting is a social statement" and that "art and politics can't be separated." Tentler-Krylov's dynamic watercolors bring her subject to life in small vignettes at various stages of the times and also place him in boldly colored, expansive scenes that pay homage to Fasanella's distinctive style. Well-researched back matter includes a timeline of events that are referenced in Fasanella's paintings, numerous reprints, and a listing of where to see more of the artist's work. A perfect companion to Levinson's The People's Painter (rev. 7/21), a picture-book biography of Ben Shahn.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James Ransome. Perhaps no instrument is more associated with jazz than the saxophone. And no city more tied to both than New Orleans. But the history of the saxophone (originally saxophon), engagingly told here, begins across the Atlantic in the small Belgian town of Dinant, where the musician and inventor Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) was born into an instrument-making family. Sax's life provides the frame for the early parts of the story as he travels to France to bolster the instrument's popularity. After catching on in military bands across Europe, the saxophone traveled with the French army to Mexico and eventually made its way to New Orleans just in time for the dawn of the invention of jazz. Ransome's illustrations shine with careful detail, effortlessly cuing readers into changes in time and locale. One particularly memorable spread shows a black cat and three long, ominous human shadows containing text describing Sax's death with the wordless page opposite featuring a young Black child playing the saxophone--and one can almost hear the funeral dirge coming out of its bell.

Reviewer: Eric Carpenter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Brett Helquist. The Mona Lisa wasn't the world's most famous painting when it disappeared from the Louvre in 1911. Day starts his narrative at the point of the theft, then jumps forward and backward, tracing Leonardo da Vinci's career, what (little) is known about the painting's subject, how the Mona Lisa became a pop culture icon, and its whereabouts today. In between the story's many diversions (e.g., early forensic science, the media's role in hyping the theft), readers also follow the path of the painting away from the museum and into the pages of history, which Day delivers with a dose of whimsy as he describes a case that had more than its share of ridiculous moments. The book combines age-appropriate true crime with art history and historiography. The nonlinear structure may take some getting used to, but it serves the book's goal of drawing parallels between elements of the theft and the Mona Lisa's current place in our culture. Helquist's cartoonlike black-and-white illustrations do an excellent job of matching the narrative voice and bringing the book's dramatic moments to life. A lengthy source list is appended.

Reviewer: Sarah Rettger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Cátia Chien. In this powerful picture book, readers learn about artist/activist/filmmaker Ai Weiwei, the worldwide refugee crisis, and the effects art can have in shining a light on humanitarian issues. Readers meet Ai Weiwei in contemporary times as he helps a large group of newly arrived refugees in boats landing on a Greek beach. Flashing back, the text relates that his own tumultuous childhood in a 1960s Chinese labor camp was when he started making art using ordinary objects. The book's main focus is on his notable protest artwork, visually referenced on the pages; the story concludes by returning to the plight of current-day "wave riders." Ho's vivid, expressive prose and Chien's bright orange and blue impressionistic pencil and pastel drawings--incorporating waves, life jackets, and documentary photographs--inspire empathy for the refugees, many of whom are young children or families. More straightforward biographical details appear in the back matter; and Ho writes that Ai Weiwei's "art and activism call on us, the citizens of the world, to lift each other up." This book is a good companion read for Ho's Playing at the Border (rev. 9/21) and Gravel's What Is a Refugee?

Reviewer: Michelle Lee | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova. "Click. Clack. / Swish-- / pull back. / Bobbin and heddle, / foot pedal, no slack." A rhyming, rhythmic text, meant to mimic the sounds of a modern floor loom, uses a child's first-person voice to explore the practice of weaving through history, highlighting some of the many cultures practicing this art. From page to page, with weaving as the through line, a child toys with the yarn, making connections and imagining her way around the world (beginning with China and the silkworm) while her elder works at the loom, turning the story into a metaphorical global tapestry. Gouache illustrations in contrasting reds and blues play with the ideas and concepts mentioned in the text in a fanciful way. The girl and her cat peek out from behind pottery featuring Egyptian settings, the text chanting, "It sings of flaxen fibers spun / by fingers deft and proud-- / threads destined for a dancer's robes / or for a pharaoh's shroud." While readers would need to have a firm understanding of world history to recognize all the visual and textual cues, extensive back matter expands on each cultural tradition and the time period. Author and illustrator notes include details about their intentions and research in this broad sweep of appreciation and respect for the craft of handmade textiles across cultures.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. Elijah Pierce was a Black Mississippi folk artist born in 1892 in a log cabin. In this imagined encounter, a young Black boy gets his hair cut at Pierce's barbershop and is treated to a tour of the barbershop's art gallery, featuring Pierce's wood carvings. "Sculptures and walking sticks. Models and message signs...Everyday people. And famous people. Everything I carve, I want it to tell some kind of story." Mack-Watkins uses printmaking techniques and mixed-media collage to create colorful, textured art representing Pierce's folk art. The brief narrative works on several levels. It showcases the artist and his work and how he was instrumental in the growing recognition of folk art in the American art scene. We also see how Pierce's art inspires a young boy's burgeoning interest in making art of his own. The story would pair well with Tate and Christie's It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw (rev. 5/12). Back matter includes an authors' note, images of Pierce's art, an artist's note, a timeline, and a list of museums where Pierce's work is shown.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Elizabeth Haidle. In his author's note, Neri (When Paul Met Artie, rev. 3/18) mentions that he met Christo and Jeanne-Claude briefly in the early 2000s and was able to interview Christo before the artist's 2020 death. This enlightening picture-book biography is infused with the author's respect for the unorthodox couple and their artistic legacy. The book focuses on the husband and wife's symbiotic creative partnership. As Neri tells it, when Jeanne-Claude first encounters Christo's small-scale (at the time) wrapped sculptures, her questions could be our own: "Why are you wrapping these silly objects in cloth and rope?" As she comes to understand Christo's vision and mission, readers do too. The dialogue-heavy text itself is a creative risk that pays off. Neri explains that, while some dialogue is from quotations, "as a narrative device, I've put their ideas into the context of a conversation to illustrate their back-and-forth...and highlight the concepts they played with." Haidle's (Before They Were Artists) energetic mixed-media illustrations in an understated earth-tone palette help convey the interactive spirit of the text and reflect art's relationship with the natural world. Read alongside Boxer's Covered in Color: Christo & Jeanne-Claude's Fabrics of Freedom (rev. 11/22); each book brings a different approach to its subjects. A bibliography and "fun facts" about the artists are appended. (Source notes for the quotations are listed on the author's website.)

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2023

(1) K-3 Art for Good series. Thoughtful book design makes a perfect container for this series entry. On heavy stock pages, Saturno and Di Cristofaro introduce young readers to a Japanese architect whose preferred medium is paper. Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has made a name for himself with his paper-tube constructions used in disaster-relief efforts, including temporary housing and such community buildings as schools and churches. Saturno uses an interactive structure to lead readers into the subject; an offstage narrator encourages a skeptical child to imagine a "house made entirely of paper and cardboard. A house you could live in." The child, rendered with angular, modernist flair and accompanied by an equally hyper-stylized cat, expostulates, "No way! That would be impossible!" But the narrator beguiles the child with the "very sturdy" paper tubes Ban uses as "bricks," while Di Cristofaro evokes the tensile strength of his innovative structures with intricate cut-paper renderings in minimalist compositions. An inserted twelve-page booklet made of brown paper contains photographs of Ban's disaster-relief projects and paragraphs of text describing them; bound in, it is smaller than the surrounding book yet integrated by its medium. A Q&A with the architect, a timeline of his life, and an exhortation to child readers "to think, to be creative, and to help" close the offering. It's all bound in a sturdy cardboard case that pays homage to Ban's work. This striking presentation is an effective invitation to children to join Ban in using creativity to solve big problems.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lauren Soloy. Maud Lewis (1903–1970) was a Nova Scotian folk artist who lived with rheumatoid arthritis. Despite physical and economic challenges, she never let her passion for art fade away. As a child, when her hands become too bent and stiff to play the piano, she starts painting. When her parents die and her brother sells the house, Maud finds a job as fish peddler Everett Lewis's live-in housekeeper (and eventually marries him, though this isn't mentioned in the book). There's not much money for paint, but Maud makes the best of what she has, adding "touches of colour" to Everett's "dull little house," painting birds and butterflies on the doors and flowers on the windows. Eventually she is able to sell her beautiful paintings and gain recognition for her creations. Stinson celebrates not only Lewis's artistic achievements but also her resilient spirit in the face of poverty and hardship. Soloy's illustrations capture the essence of Lewis's unique artistic style with a cheery palette that reflects the text's upbeat tone. A touching and uplifting tribute, this book emphasizes the importance of finding beauty in the everyday and persevering through life's challenges.

Reviewer: Weileen Wang | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2023

(1) 4-6 Turk, illustrator of the Sibert Medal winning [The People's Painter (rev. 7/21), adds another excellent biography of an artist to his oeuvre of picture books for older readers. His subject here, David Hockney (b. 1937), is one of the most distinguished British painters of the past century by virtue of his contributions to the pop art movement of the 1960s; he is also a noted photographer, printmaker, and set designer. After several formative childhood experiences with art, Hockney enrolls at the Royal College of Arts in London, but he truly finds his voice after graduating and moving to Hollywood, becoming famous for illustrations of swimming pools, gay life, and mid-century Los Angeles. Turk's penchant for mixed media is on full display here: colored pencil, crayon, and gouache in bright colors. Illustrations tend toward full-bleed drawings, but occasional collages and single-page illustrations change up the visual pace. The book opens with a close-up of the glasses on young David's face and ends with a similar one featuring older David--a detail that not only brings the book full circle but also reinforces a central theme: "The only way to slow time down was to stop and look more carefully...the more time you take to look, the more you see how beautiful life can be."

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Matt Schu. With a refrain of "snip, snip, snip!" the story introduces readers to German film pioneer Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981). Lotte's adolescence coincided with the dawn of cinema, a time when movies "were silent but filled with magical sights." She utilized her Scherenschnitte ("scissor cuts") skills to create her own paper-cut puppet shows, eventually seeking the guidance and partnership of cinema professionals. Success with early stop-motion experimentation, along with acclaim for a groundbreaking four-minute animated film, led to a wealthy patron. Reiniger, assisted by her husband and a small crew, worked for nearly three years to complete a sixty-five-minute animated movie titled The Adventures of Prince Achmed, which mesmerized audiences. Schu's exquisite digital illustrations possess a strong sense of illumination and depth, often suggesting a tactile quality, as if constructed from paper. Visually, much of the book is shadowy and dark, particularly around the perimeter of pages, simulating the experience of watching a shadow puppet play; however, bursts of radiant color spotlight (literally and figuratively) key areas of interest. A helpful author's note identifies the Chinese origins of paper cutting and Reiniger's specific contributions to filmmaking (some of which are often incorrectly accredited to Walt Disney). Additional back matter includes a timeline, a bibliography, and a glossary. See also Robinson's Out of the Shadows: How Lotte Reiniger Made the First Animated Fairytale Movie (rev. 3/22).

Reviewer: Patrick Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Susanna Chapman. This reverent picture-book biography of the art-world pair (focused mainly on Christo) begins with a formative moment in the young man's life. While Nazis search his Bulgarian town for Russian propaganda, Christo's family burns his beloved Russian art books. Nazism is followed by Communism, under which Christo can create only state-sanctioned art; and Boxer draws a through line betweeen political repression and Christo's eventual conception of his and Jeanne-Claude's artwork as "a scream of freedom." Christo later meets and falls in love with Jeanne-Claude in France; the couple moves to New York, where they begin to execute their large-scale art projects, wrapping buildings, coastlines, and islands, and scattering umbrellas across California and Japan. In 2005, they realize their dream of constructing The Gates: twenty-three miles of saffron-curtained archways winding through Central Park. Chapman's loose, diaphanous illustrations capture the whimsy and exuberance of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's art. Figures peek through the luminous layers of watercolor as if wrapped in sheer curtains, and abstract designs depict times of emotional turmoil and triumph. Author and artist notes offer more biographical details and invite readers to contemplate the meaning behind the art installations, and a list of recommended sources encourages further exploration of this idiosyncratic pair.

Reviewer: K Rachael Stein | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon. This picture-book biography is a fascinating introduction to Ghanaian artist El Anatsui and his innovative artistic process. Early pages present Anatsui's childhood love of artmaking in the British colony of the Gold Coast. When he was a teenager, in 1957, his country achieved independence as the nation of Ghana, and Goldberg stirringly writes, "With this new freedom, he felt a shift." Anatsui's own words follow: "We could decide to do things on our own terms." Words and pictures guide readers to see how liberation on this national scale translated into Anatsui's artistic quest to freely express himself by experimenting with diverse media and developing new techniques. Zunon's (I Am Farmer, rev. 1/19; Grandpa Cacao, rev. 5/19) use of paint and cut-paper collage is particularly well suited to depicting Anatsui's life and artistry; it echoes his own evolving process of using found materials and assembling them in his artwork. Throughout, the illustrations' style is largely realistic, and shifts in visual perspective invite the reader to home in on pivotal moments. For example, when Anatsui finds a discarded bag of bottle tops at the side of the road, Zunon spotlights him holding one. The next spread eschews background detail to show Anatsui's hands manipulating the bottle tops as he develops a technique for creating the massive, fabric-like sculptures that brought him international acclaim. Back matter provides additional context and sources while inviting readers to get their own hands involved in creating art.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Loveis Wise. This superb picture-book biography profiles Alma Thomas (1891–1978), the first Black woman to have art displayed in the White House's permanent collection. After a childhood filled with "soaking up the sparkling colors of nature" and enhanced by heady discussions ("Alma's parents filled their home with books and created their own place of learning"), Thomas taught art to Black children in segregated schools. During her long teaching career, she "painted, studied, and shared ideas with artist friends" on the side until retiring and turning to creating art full time. Thomas was the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney in New York, in 1972, and made history again when First Lady Michelle Obama chose her modern masterpiece, Resurrection, for permanent display in the White House's Old Family Dining Room. Harvey's (Maya Lin, rev. 7/17) poetic text is imagistic and deftly paced; Wise's (The People Remember, rev. 11/21) digital artwork is boldly, fittingly colorful. Long, loose-limbed figures in various shades of brown pop against backgrounds of blues, greens, and golds. The story is bookended with scenes of Alma in repose, lying on her back, hands behind her head, the very picture of satisfaction from a job well done and a life well lived. Author and illustrator notes, an illustrated timeline, a source list, notes, and references (with separate sections for articles, children's books, and adult books) are appended.

Reviewer: Sam Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2022

(2) 4-6 In this picture book for an older audience than Yang's A Boy Named Isamu (rev. 9/21), Hughes presents an impressionistic biography of artist Isamu Noguchi. The book's emotional journey begins with an elderly Noguchi shouting into a phone, angrily turning down an invitation to represent the United States in an important art exhibition. Rejected too many times in both America and Japan, Noguchi "felt like a snail and called himself one." To calm down, he decides to build an akari, a lamp sculpted out of paper and bamboo, though difficult memories arise as he works. Born to a white American mother and a Japanese father, Noguchi grew up in both the U.S. and Japan yet never felt he belonged in either; World War II only deepened his sense of alienation. In her illustrations Hughes makes use of spirals and whorls to play with the snail theme: the artist often works so ferociously he's like a "typhoon"; coiled shapes fill his memories--Japanese ferns, wood shavings, his curly hair as a child; and, finally, there's the rounded shell-like body of the light-filled lamp, his finished product. Noguchi feels "love from the akari's glow" and changes his mind about the invitation; his work at the exhibition ultimately includes a room filled with akari--"a room full of light." In an author's note, Hughes says that while critics at the time complained that the akari were too commercial, she considers them "sculptures of joy...of lightness, impermanence." A brief bibliography is appended.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023