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Harvey, Jeanne Walker

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

40 pp. | HarperCollins | February, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-302189-1 $18.99
(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

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