(3) K-3 Illustrated by Stéphane Girel. A wintry tale of a kindly peasant (Bird); a young ballerina transported to nineteenth-century Paris (Ballerina); the legend behind a Japanese celebration (Wave); a mailman on a dreamy voyage finding love (Journey). Four attractive oversize picture books inspired by works of Bruegel, Degas, Hokusai, and Chagall contain homage-paying illustrations, a reproduction of the influential masterpiece, and artist biographical information in question-and-answer format. Review covers these titles: A Bird in Winter, Little Ballerina, The Great Wave, and Journey on a Cloud.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(4) 4-6 Bruegel the Elder traveled from Antwerp to southern Italy in the 1550s. No record exists of this trip but, in a series of diary entries, Shafer re-creates what the artist may have experienced. Shafer's illustrations echo subjects, themes, and perspectives in Bruegel's later paintings. Sixteen appended reproductions are too small to give a sense of the artist's work. An author's note provides further information.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) K-3 Life and Work Of series. Thirteen two-page chapters in each book cover aspects of each artist's life and art. The left-hand pages give brief biographical facts in chronological order, with photos or drawings of the artist at work, his family, home, travels, and sources of inspiration. The right-hand pages have clear reproductions of the artist's work with comments about his style, subjects, or materials. Time lines are included. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(4) K-3 Tell Me About series. Leonardo's genius and Bruegel's interest in both the everyday and the bizarre do not come alive in the one or two paragraphs of basic biographical facts on each page. The captions for the black-and-white and color photos and reproductions contain the more intriguing facts (Leonardo wrote backward) and observations (Bruegel's Children's Games shows eighty different games). Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges