The Arts: A Visual Encyclopedia
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DK. DK, $19.99 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-4654-6178-0
This addition to the Visual Encyclopedia series covers a broad range of traditions in painting, sculpture, photography, music, and dance, from early civilizations to the present. Photographs and reproduced artwork provide vivid examples of artistic genres and styles, as well as prominent creators. The section on painting, by far the most expansive of the five, introduces significant movements—including baroque, romanticism, impressionism, and cubism—and profiles influential painters. If flipping from a portrait of Stravinsky to a spread featuring Bob Dylan, Beyoncé, and Jay Z catches readers off guard, it speaks to the breadth of material covered. The final chapter on dance looks at ancient, folk, and national dances, as well as contemporary crazes and styles, including krumping and body popping. It’s a substantial addition to a home library. Ages 8–12. (Aug.)
Old Masters Rock: How to Look at Art with Children
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Maria-Christina Sayn-Wittgenstein Nottebohm. Pimpernel (IPG/Trafalgar Sq., dist.), $22.95 (112p) ISBN 978-1-910258-04-0
Nottebohm highlights 50 paintings in a book designed for children and parents to explore together; a dozen chapters explore such artistic themes as royalty, families, and religion. Large reproductions of the paintings appear opposite Nottebohm’s commentary about their creators and creation, and dozens of questions, set off in italics, urge readers to closely examine and consider each work. For Jean-Étienne Liotard’s Woman in Turkish Dress, Seated on a Sofa, she ponders the contents of a torn letter on the carpet: “Who do you think wrote the letter? Do you think it was the same person she had dressed herself up for?” A fine introduction to Brueghel, Delacroix, Rembrandt, and other painters that actively encourages readers to develop visual literacy through observation and imagination. Ages 7–12. (Aug.)
Fine Art Adventures: 36 Creative, Hands-On Projects Inspired by Classic Masterpieces
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Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw. Chicago Review (IPG, dist.), $19.99 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-0-912777-04-7
This companion to Modern Art Adventures and Three-Dimensional Art Adventures presents 36 projects inspired by classic works of art. The book’s eight sections introduce themes relating to art fundamentals (color, shape), subjects (animals, myths), and types of work (landscapes, portraiture). Projects include using glue to create a three-dimensional version of an Albrecht Dürer portrait (“This project concentrates on the line of a portrait rather than its color”), creating a snow globe inspired by a circular winter landscape from Barent Avercamp, and decorating a “story box” based on Paolo Uccello’s St. George and the Dragon. The projects are well-targeted to the target audience, and their transformative nature—using paintings as inspiration to create masks, paperweights, sculptures, and more—smartly emphasizes how inspiration can take an artist down surprising paths. Ages 6–up. (Sept.)
Masterpiece Mix
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Roxie Munro. Holiday House, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-3699-6
“Today I will make a new painting,” declares an artist with cropped hair and glasses (she bears a strong resemblance to Munro herself), before noting the supplies she uses and the inspiration she gathers from the artwork around her. The artist’s pleasantly cluttered studio features reproductions of dozens of works of art from Cassatt, Gauguin, Vermeer, and other artists (the images were digitized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.). Munro touches on possible subjects—still lifes, portraits, landscapes—and a closing cityscape lets eagle-eyed readers spot the 37 featured paintings, drawings, and sculptures on buildings, vehicles, and elsewhere; the works of art are discussed in greater detail in end notes. Rather than focus on a finished masterpiece, Munro makes it clear that the process of making art begins long before the first brush stroke. Ages 4–7. (Aug.)
Meet the Artist: David Hockney
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Rose Blake. Tate (Abrams, dist.), $12.95 trade paper (32p) ISBN 978-1-84976-446-9
This first book in the Meet the Artist series offers a light introduction to British multimedia artist David Hockney. Blake asks readers to consider aspects of Hockney’s work before applying their observations to their own artwork. “Fascinated by water, Hockney played with different ways of drawing and painting it,” reads one page, followed by an invitation to draw waves, rain, and other types of water in provided boxes. Another activity suggests readers create photo collages in the vein of Hockney’s Pearblossom Hwy. Children will gain some sense of Hockney’s style, and Blake’s irreverent illustrations tap into the energy and palette of several of the reproduced images. Published in conjunction with a traveling retrospective organized by the Tate Britain, this breezy primer may prompt readers to seek out more of Hockney’s work, online or in person. All ages. (Sept.)
The Reduced Shakespeare Co., illus. by Jennie Maizels. Candlewick, $19.99 (10p) ISBN 978-0-7636-9874-4
“How much do you know about Shakespeare himself? Not much? No worries! Nobody else does, either.” Famous for its condensed versions of the Bard’s plays, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, a traveling comedy troupe, offers a delightfully irreverent tour of his work, assisted by pop-ups, flaps, and Maizels’s equally playful cartooning. After an introduction to Shakespeare the man, four pop-up spreads collect his comedies, histories, romances, and tragedies, combining capsule summaries with pithy takeaways (for The Merchant of Venice: “Always read the fine print”). Despite the conciseness with which the plays, sonnets, and poems are discussed, plenty of historical context is provided, and the pages are packed with information—recaps of several plays appear on the reverse sides of the flaps and pop-up castles and seascapes. For readers intimidated by Shakespeare, it’s hard to imagine a more entertaining way to get a sense of what these classics are about. Ages 7–10. (Oct.)
All Aboard the Discovery Express
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Emily Hawkins and Tom Adams, illus. by Tom Clohoshy-Cole. Wide Eyed Editions, $27.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-84780-990-2
Conductor Pierre Henri and explorer Nancy Delany serves as readers’ guides aboard the Discovery Express, a time-traveling train that the authors use to dive into the history of transportation. Multiple flaps are incorporated into the pages, lifting to reveal details about transportation milestones and technologies (such as how steam engines and electric motors work), as well as clues designed to help readers solve the mystery of a missing professor. Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop, the Panama Canal, and the North Carolina site of the Wright brothers’ flight are among the locations visited, and Clohoshy-Cole captures these and other settings in cinematic digital illustrations that highlight the excitement and potential surrounding these advancements. It’s an engaging overview of humankind’s attempts to travel faster and farther—and of the pilots, inventors, and dreamers who made those developments possible. Ages 7–10. (Oct.)
Courtney Watson McCarthy. Candlewick Studio, $29.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-9007-6
In the spirit of Marion Bataille’s ABC3D, this spare, compact pop-up book combines elegant paper engineering with a subtle seek-and-find mission as it moves through the alphabet. The book is wordless, but readers will notice small capital letters embossed into the pop-ups; hunting them down becomes part of the fun, along with naming the animals and objects they represent. A remarkably three-dimensional apple kicks things off, the A hidden within its leaf. Several spreads combine multiple letters (a tree with sprawling roots and a dangling tire swing takes care of R, S, and T), and surprises abound (a skeleton-revealing x-ray is especially satisfying). A couple entries may stymie readers (that V is represented by a village isn’t immediately apparent), but readers young and old will be impressed by how much fun McCarthy packs into a small package. Ages 5–9. (Sept.)
What a Mess! A Pop-up Misadventure
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Keith Allen. 5am Press, $34.99 (14p) ISBN 978-0-692-81057-6
A messy bedroom makes a world of trouble for two unnamed siblings in this Kickstarter-funded pop-up book from paper engineer Allen. After the kids’ belongings explode out of their room, the result is “a mountain of toys nearly touching the sky!” In dealing with that problem, the brother and sister are beset by an awful smell, a dust cyclone, and a closet that threatens to consume them. Chaotic and colorful, Allen’s digital graphics and playfully haphazard pop-ups create an atmosphere of playful disaster; toward the end, he uses a spiraling strip of acetate to send socks and underwear flying when the children discover an under-the-bed vortex. The rhymes can be strained (“They started to sink in a big pile of sweaters,/ but safely grabbed onto a boa of feathers”) but the book exudes such a sense of fun that most readers won’t mind. Ages 3–8. (BookLife)
Leaves: An Autumn Pop-up Book
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Janet Lawler, illus. by Lindsay Dale-Scott. Jumping Jack, $29.95 (16p) ISBN 978-1-62348-458-3
Dramatic pop-ups engineered by newcomer Yoojin Kim guide readers through autumnal changes in this cozily illustrated book. Pulling a tab causes a cluster of leaves to transform into rich oranges and yellows in the opening spread; later pages feature torrents of falling leaves, a birch tree that comes to three-dimensional life, and mushrooms that spring from the forest floor. Tiny white arrows direct children to small flaps, under which they can read about why leaves change color, the habits of various animals, and related topics. The understated text doesn’t always do much to bolster the book’s overall sense of wonder (“Leaves change,” it concludes. “They are so amazing”), but the variety of pop-up effects and animals tucked into the scenes—an adorable baby hedgehog, a frog that leaps—create an enticing vision of seasonal change. Ages 3–8. (Sept.)
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