City Chickens

by Christine Heppermann
various photo credits
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 2012
Bok bok! Get it here.

This is a truly lovely story about a chicken rescue organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yes, you read that correctly. Mary Britton Clouse and her husband, Bert, run Chicken Run Rescue--devoted to providing rehabilitation and adoption services for chickens in the Twin Cities.

Apparently (who knew?), chickens are often abandoned or abused. Many people discard of roosters after they find out they are roosters rather than hens who will lay eggs. And Mary Clouse has no tolerance for any mistreatment of any animal. She and Bert have a permit to house up to 20 chickens at a time in their home and yard in the city. (Of course, that didn't help the time there were 105 abandoned chicks on the side of the highway--that story is one of the highlights of the book.)

Heppermann is a longtime Horn Book Magazine reviewer, and she tells this story with a deftness and with a clear alacrity for her topic. Any child reader will delight in reading about how chickens are rescued and adopted by families.

The book is appended with Clouse's artwork, a good, long author's note, and information about how to care for a city chicken yourself. There is also info for educators and a source list. 

(L to R): Bert and Mary Clouse, the author's daughter, the author.

Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-true Story of Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure

SPECIAL NOTE: Tomorrow, January 26, 2013, is my 40th birthday. This week, January 22, 2013, was the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I've always been proud to share a birth-week with such a momentous moment in women's rights history. This week also now marks the day that the armed forces allowed women into combat roles, opening the entire military up to us. In honor of these two 40th anniversaries and new moment in history, I present a book about a woman of gumption.

by Shana Corey
illustrated by Hadley Hooper
Scholastic | 2012
Buy it now! (It's cookie time, after all.)

This book is the perfect gift for anyone in your life who is currently a Daisy, Brownie, or Girl Scout or for any adult who once was one. We also just passed the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts, in March 2012. Every Girl Scout knows their founder's name: Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low, but how many know about her early life and how she came to found the organization in the United States?

This charming account of a "girl with gumption" tells the story of Low's founding of the Girl Scouts (modeled on the Girl Guides of England). The art is stylized and fun--created with paint, ink, and printmaking along with some digital enhancements. The earth-toned palette is perfect for this story about early environmentalism. If I have any complaint, it's about the somewhat overwhelming design (small primary text, larger secondary text that appear to be quotes from Low and too-varied text placement end up feeling a bit haphazard).

The book includes a "gallery" of famous Girl Scouts, a lengthy author's note including information about her personal Girl Scout connection, the U.S. history era in which the organization was founded, information about conservation efforts, diversity, the Girl Scout Promise and Law, a source list, and acknowledgements.

Add this book to your Girl Scout cookie shopping list this year!

I Have A Dream

words by Martin Luther King Jr.
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Schwartz & Wade/Random House | 2012
Get it here.

Award-winning illustrator Kadir Nelson (Caldecott Honors for Henry's Freedom Box in 2008 and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom in 2007) brings Martin Luther King Jr's iconic speech to life in this new book. And I'm here to tell you it's as beautiful as Nelson's past contributions to the field of children's literature.

I'm telling you on the day we set aside each year to remember MLK, which also happens, this year, to the be the day that Barack Obama will take his second oath of office in the very city where MLK gave the speech presented in this book.

I mean, look at this:

I was lucky enough to see an exhibit of Nelson's original art for his book about the Negro League, We Are The Ship, last year at the Carle Museum in Western Massachusetts. His art is just stunning. Looking at his books makes it easy to imagine why.

One might think there are enough books in the world about MLK already. I think there's no way that's true. Each generation will continue to interpret the words of the civil rights leader taken from us far too early in their own way. And some members of each generation, like Nelson, will interpret them visually. What a gift. 

The Giant and How He Humbugged America

by Jim Murphy
Scholastic | 2012
Get it here!
Reviewed from galleys.

Murphy is back again, with yet another awesome nonfiction entry for kids. Murphy's excellent books include Fire, Blizzard, Truce, and The American Plague (a Newbery Honor book). To me, the most remarkable thing, amongst many remarkable things, that Murphy does is that he somehow makes intimate objects into main characters. A blizzard, a war, or a fire almost take personalities of their own as Murphy recounts the events he chooses to research and present in his books.

This book is the same. The 10-foot-long stone-cast man found buried on a farm in Cardiff, New York in 1869 becomes as much a character in Murphy's narrative as does the men who discover it. This bizarre finding had the whole country buzzing and wondering about the origins of the man. Using narrative supplemented by historical photos, advertisements, and drawings, Murphy leads the reader through the discoveries--of the giant and of the fact that it turns out to be a colossal hoax.

This is just the kind of book a kid interested in practical jokes or weird oddities is looking for. Appended with short vignettes about other famous hoaxes, an author's note about research, source notes, a bibliography, photo sources, and an index, it's also just right for the Common Core. With a narrative, a cast of characters, history, geography, and some research methodology thrown in, it's a cross-discipline lesson come to life. Murphy has proven once again that nonfiction need not be boring--in fact, it's some of the most exciting stuff out there!

Snowflake Bentley

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
illustrated by Mary Azarian
Houghton Mifflin | 1998
Buy it here!

This Caldecott Medal book is about William Bentley, who discovered much of what was known about snow crystals during his lifetime. Born in 1865, as a boy in Jericho, Vermont, he spent the long winters there determined to make photographs of snowflakes. After a lot of trial and error, he learned how.

Azarian's gorgeous woodcut prints, which according to the copyright page are hand-tinted with watercolor, couldn't be more perfect for the story and it's no wonder they won the Caldecott. It's clear through her artwork that Azarian is not only a Vermonter, but a snow-lover. And indeed, her dedication in the book reads: "For all the snow lovers of the world, who--like me--think that snow is like chocolate; there is never enough."

As a snow and winter lover myself, I find this is the perfect book with which to curl up next to the fire. Snuggle in with someone and read about Snowflake Bentley. This book is as unique as the snowflakes Bentley found so fascinating.

One of W.A. Bentley's photographs.

Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Stephen Alcorn
Sandpiper/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | January 8, 2013 (paperback reprint edition)
Order now!

Originally published in 2000, this gorgeous new paperback reprint edition would be a fantastic addition to any middle-school classroom. Chronicling the stories of 10 important black women freedom fighters (a term I love), the book offers succinct yet information-rich vignettes of each person.

Included are Sojourner Truth, Biddy Mason, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary McLeod Bethune, Ella Josephine Baker, Dorothy Irene Height, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Shirley Chisholm. How many of these women have you heard about before? Are you sure you know their whole story?

The text is lyrically written, just as we've come to expect from Pinkney. Lines like these, from the section on Sojourner Truth lead the reader in and makes you want more: "Belle's mother, Mau-Mau Bett, had a special kind of strength. She was quiet strong, like a wind that keeps a boat on course."

The art is the perfect blend of realistic and whimsical, with gorgeous color and rich details. An entire discussion could happen just about what the art depicts and why. The trim size is a perfect 9 x 12, which is big enough for two students to read together, huddled over a desk as they prepare a report or a presentation to their classmates. This is the perfect non-fiction text: it draws the reader in and makes learning both interesting and fun.

Martin & Mahalia: His Words and Her Song

by Andrea Davis Pinkney
illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Little, Brown | August 2013
pre-order now!
(reviewed from galleys) 

Children's book living-legends and husband-and-wife team Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney come together again--this time for a glorious portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahalia Jackson. This gorgeous and spiritually-worded book begins with separate portrayals of the two subjects and then brings them together, mirroring their relationship in real life. The water color in the illustrations lend a softness and the India ink pen highlights a strength in the images.

Some words and phrases on each page are rendered in a bigger, sans-serif font, allowing for the reader's eye to focus in on what's most important on that page. The water-color-like color of those words keeps them clearly linked to the images. The story uses a metaphor of a road map to invite the reader in before the title page and carries the story along the path towards the Civil Rights era and the path toward a greater freedom for all in the United States. Ending with the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the book is appended with an author's note, an illustrator's note, a list of further reading, a discography of Jackson's work, acknowledgements, and a time line.

This is a picture book, yes. But it is a fine example of why picture books are not always for the smallest readers. While a younger child might appreciate the images and could perhaps sit through an entire reading, this is the kind of book that is meant for older readers. This book invites kids as old as high-school to sit down and dive in. The illustrations add context and a fluidity to an understanding of the impact both King and Jackson had on United States history. This book shows with words and with pictures why the struggle was difficult, yet also vibrant and joyful. And while everyone has heard of King, is everyone familiar with the role Jackson played? I would guess: probably not.

The book opens: YOU ARE HERE. . . . Take the road. Come along. With Martin and Mahalia." I echo this first page. Get this book. Take the road the Pinkneys offer.

Noah Webster & His Words

by Jeri Chase Ferris
illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch
Houghton Mifflin | 2012

This nonfiction biography picture book about Noah Webster and the creation of the first dictionary is fantastic! Full of great facts and the story of how Webster became the father of the American dictionary, it is written clearly with excellent definitions of fourteen words built right into the story.

From the first page:

"Noah Webster always knew he was right, and he never got tired of saying so (even if sometimes, he wasn't). He was, he said, full of CON-FI-DENCE" [noun: belief that one is right] from the very beginning."

The whimsical drawings bring the story even more to life, and the prodigious use of squiggles in the art bring a "handwritten" quality to all the illustrations. One awesome detail in the illustrations stands out. On a page about how Webster sailed to Europe to use the libraries in there to finish his dictionary, the illustration is of a boat on the ocean. The ocean waves are made of words, all having to do with ships. I only know that because I looked them up! Taffrail, gaff, moonraker, stunsail, tilller, halyard, and more are spread across that ocean and it's a lovely detail!

The book includes a detailed timeline that interweaves Noah Webster's life with important American dates; after all, he was born in 1758 and died in 1843 and during his lifetime, the United States was born. He is buried in New Haven in Grove Street Cemetery next to Yale. The book also includes a longer note about Noah Webster and a bibliography that includes websites.

Biographies are not boring! And this one proves it yet again.

Castle: How It Works

by David Macaulay
David Macaulay Studio/Macmillan | 2012

David Macaulay's new early reader series, My Readers, kicks off with Castle: How It Works. David is already famous for his other Castle book, written in 1977, along with his other amazing books about buildings (Mosque, Pyramid, City, and more) as well as the one that started it all in 1973, Cathedral. He is also lauded for his The Way Things Work books. You should check out all of his books, but for now let's stick with this new one in this new series.

Here, David explains how a castle works in words and pictures accessible to new readers.  He writes in the second person, addressing the child reader and inviting them into the castle. He gives a a tour about how things work for both friends and foes of the castle.

Some text examples:

"If you are friend you must first climb a steep ramp. It ends at a wooden drawbridge. The drawbridge crosses the moat."

"If you are a foe, or an enemy, you won't be let in. To capture the castle you will have to surround it and wait. This is called a siege."

The clear and precise language allows early readers to investigate both words and pictures independently.

The book includes a Words to Know section complete with a diagram of the castle's parts, a list of websites to visit to learn more, and an index for the most intrepid readers. Jet Plane: How It Works is also available already, and more titles are planned.

Eight Days Gone

by Linda McReynolds
illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke
Charlesbridge | 2012

The simple, sparse rhyming text in this picture book about the first American landing on the moon in 1969 is utterly perfect for the littlest readers. It tells the entire story of the Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin's successful trip. The clean, clear illustrations are a brilliant complement to the story. McReynolds and O'Rourke are a fantastic team on this one.

An excerpt:

Swiftly speeding.
Earth ahead.
Ship arriving.
News is spread.

Ocean splashdown.
Heroes seen.
Helicopter.
Quarantine. 

This is another great holiday season buy. Everyone loves the moon!

Drawing From Memory

by Allen Say
Scholastic | 2011

This 2012 Sibert Medal Honor book chronicles Allen Say's personal journey from childhood to adult illustrator and writer. Told in the first person, the book invites the reader to journey with Say from the Japan of his childhood beginning with his birth in 1937 through his struggles with his parents around his chosen vocation to his independent living in an apartment of his own at the age of 12. It continues through his apprenticeship with one of the most lauded Japanese cartoonists to his choice to join his father in the United States.

The book is told through both words and pictures and feels a bit like a graphic novel. At 64 pages, it is picture book for slightly older readers and perfect for discussions about discovery: discovery of self, of meaning, and of family. Say's stories are gifts to children's literature (check out Grandfather's Journey and The Bicycle Man for two of my favorites) and he's known for his nonfiction stories that are largely autobiographical.

Don't miss this book. It's not only beautiful, it's also poignant in a gentle, understated way that leaves room for the reader's own interpretation. A perfect combination.

And The Soldiers Sang

by J. Patrick Lewis
illustrated by Gary Kelley
Creative Editions | 2011

This poignant picture book is about the Christmas truce on Christmas Eve 1914 on the front lines of WWI. Seen through the eyes of a fictional Welsh soldier who sings First Noel in his tenor that night, the paneled art evokes a graphic-novel or war-based comic book feel. The dark palette fits perfectly with the wartime and night-time setting and the story itself offers a look at how peace fits into history.

This one is for the older set. Use it in your 4th through 10th grade classrooms during a general war unit or on a WWI unit. Ask the students to consider how the history is woven through the story with a fictional character at the center -- does it matter if he's not actually real? Will we ever know every soldier who was there that night? Offer it to your child who is curious about war and wants to read everything s/he can get their hands on. Read it yourself. Personally, I didn't get enough WWI history in school to remember the Christmas truce all that well. But now, it'll stay with me forever.

A 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Honor Award winner, this one will likely be a winner in everyone's mind.

Chuck Close: Face Book

by Chuck Close
Abrams | 2012

This 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Award winner brings a group of fifth grade art students into Chuck Close's studio and allows them to ask him questions. Each question begins a section and Close's answers provide the text. A pleasing introduction, four-page timeline, resource list, extensive glossary, and double spread list of illustrations with thumbnails rounds out the text. And best of all, right in the center is a signature of heavy card stock paper cut into thirds and featuring 14 of Close's self-portraits that a reader can flip and match and, in essence, create new art with.

Not being a modern art aficionado, I wasn't entirely clear who Chuck Close is. In a nutshell, he's an artist who paints massive face portraits from small squares of color that form together into shapes. If you stand too close to his art, it doesn't look like anything but colorful squiggles. But step back a few feet or more and there's Philip Glass or Bill Clinton or Close himself looking right at you.

In the text, he explains his background as a kid who struggled with academics, how he started drawing, and how he developed his process. He chronicles his accident leading to quadriplegia in the 80s and how he continued to paint afterwards. He gives advice to budding artists and how his assistants work with him.

This one is great for any kid interested in art. It's about process and about someone who needed an outlet and who shined in one way while struggling in another. And its design is spectacular and it'll be a good addition to your coffee table or the book table in your classroom.

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917

by Sally M. Walker
Henry Holt | 2011

As I mentioned in my post here, I am a big fan of disaster stories. And I'd read about this one before as there are a number of adult titles about the explosion. This book, written for middle-grade and young adult readers, is a spectacular telling of how the incident occurred, how many folks were affected, and what it meant for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the northeastern seaboard of the United States.

Beginning with a chart of the families featured in the book overlayed on top of a map of Halifax;  a "Note to the Reader;" and an quote from David McCullough, that great nonfiction writer, the book carefully sets the stage to tell the story of this Canadian city on a hill. Back matter includes source notes, a selected bibliography, and an index. Historical photos and maps are presented throughout.

What, you may be asking, was the Halifax Explosion? During World War I, two ships were in Halifax Harbor, which is long and skinny with little islands dotting it, making it a bit hard to navigate. One ship rammed the other, and it blew up. As the book's flap copy succinctly puts it: "The blast flattened large areas of Halifax and the town across the harbor, Dartmouth. It killed nearly 2000 people."

Boston responded, sending doctors and nurses north on the train to help with the aftermath. And the people of Halifax was more prepared than they might've been for a disaster, because they'd just responded in force to the sinking of the Titanic only five years earlier. But families were devastated and the rebuilding of Halifax took years.

Each year to this day, the people of Nova Scotia select a giant tree, cut it down, and ship it south to Boston--a gift and thank you from one place to another. The tree is put up in downtown Boston and decorated for the holidays. A reminder of how we (I say we since I'm a Bostonian through and through) helped them during that terrible time.

Have a look at a piece of history you may never have heard about before. I promise it's fascinating. Disasters and our reactions to them usually are!

Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat

by Susanna Reich
illustrated by Amy Bates
Abrams | 2012

I've been enamored of Julia Child for some time now. First I bought a copy of Julie & Julia way back when it was on the seconds table at the Barnes & Noble because Nora Ephron hadn't discovered it yet. Then I saw the film and realized the book I really should be reading was My Life in France, which I ran out to buy. And it was so lovely. I'm old enough to remember Julia on WGBH in Boston way back when. She's a pretty great woman, it turns out.

Last Wednesday would've been her 100th birthday (which  wouldn't have been that odd, really; she was a major go-getter right till the end and lived to be two days short of 92). In honor of her, I went out and got Minette's Feast, a cute little story about the cat Julia and Paul Child adopted when they lived in Paris. She was a fantastic mouser and didn't even realize the fancy-food heaven in which she lived.

The illustrations by Bates are lovely. The Childs are rendered perfectly in a way that shows their own physicality (which was remarkable in their relationship) as well as their love for each other. A cross-sectioned illustration of their home is pleasing and the little girls found on many spreads keeps young readers searching.  The color palette is homey and warm, just like Julia's kitchen.

A nice afterword includes some biographical info about Julia and the cat and clarifies that all dialogue used in the text is from actual sources, which is great!

Have some beef bourguignon sometime this month and honor Julia Child and her energetic and innovative spirit. It resonates with me - reinventing oneself later in life is scary, but as Julia proves, it's possible. And fun!

Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About America's Westward Expansion

by Steve Sheinkin
illustrated by Tim Robinson
Roaring Brook Press | 2009

Steve Sheinkin is a former textbook writer and he struggled with all the rules and regulations in this country about what is "appropriate history" for a textbook and what is deemed too "controversial" or too "risque" for the schoolchildren of the United States to know about. So he "secretly stashed away all the stories [he] wasn't allowed to use in textbooks" and started writing his own books about the fun side of history. And let this reviewer say, they are super fun, super interesting, and really well written.

Last year, Sheinkin received a Boston Globe Horn Book Award for his book The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery. I, like most other people educated in the public school system (and one Brady Bunch episode), only knew of Arnold as a traitor. But Sheinkin's gloriously well-researched text enlightened me about his amazing Revolutionary War hero past (before he became a traitor). So interesting how history remembers people.

To get to the book in the title of this post, Sheinkin has written a few books just as well-written as the Arnold book about Westward Expansion, the American Revolution, and the Civil War, all with fantastic titles that are meant to lure in middle-grade and high school readers to make history fun again. Check them out,  use them in your classroom, spend some time learning some little-known parts of history right alongside your child, or niece, or grandkid.

And then you'll know the story about how Paul Revere needed to borrow his assistant's girlfriend's underwear in order to row across the bay to get on his horse to warn folks the British were coming. Curious about what I'm talking about? Read Sheinkin!

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq

written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter
Harcourt | January 1, 2005

This beautiful picture book begins with the epigram: "In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was 'Read.' - Alia Muhammad Baker" A lovely way to begin, I think.

"Alia is the librarian of Basra," the text starts. The brightly colored illustrations show a woman with her head covered with an armful of books making her way down a street. The library was a meeting place--a happy place, until the war came. The librarian takes matters into her own hands to save the books when the governor refuses to move them somewhere safe. Soon, war is ravaging through Basra and the library is destroyed. But not until Alia has saved all the books.

The book explains how Alia dreams of peace while she waits for a time when the books can return to the library again and it ends without resolution. She stands, a lone figure as the book began, amongst the stacks of books, safely kept away from war until a time the library can be rebuilt.

This is not a real spread in the book, but two pages from separate spreads. I like them together.

An author's note explains the story is true, told by Alia to a New York Times reporter. This lovely, vibrant book manages to do two difficult things brilliantly. First, it portrays a real person and real events in a manner that is engaging to even the youngest readers. And, it shows war and its destruction in a non-scary yet realistic way leaving hope at the end even in the face of an unsure future. (According to online reports, the library was rebuilt in 2004 with Alia as librarian.)

This book is beautiful and worth your time. Enjoy it with a child and have a discussion about books, the universal love of them, and discuss what war can do. This book can help you with those topics and more.

The House That George Built

by Suzanne Slade
illustrated by Rebecca Bond

Charlesbridge | February 1, 2012

On the birthday of the United States (which happens to be my favorite holiday), here is a book about the birth of our most famous house. In the style of "The House That Jack Built" (the famous British nursery rhyme), each progressive bit of the house is added to the refrain of the tale. The book begins with introducing the reader to George Washington, our first President, who was hand-selected after independence.

As George and others plan for and build each part of the house, information about why or how each portion of the planning happened. The grand "President's House," as it was known, (today we know it as the White House) was meant to be three stories and have a lead roof. But the quarries nearby didn't have enough stone, and George refused to ask England for any, so the third story was never built. "During his last year as president, building officials asked him to change the plans because the house was getting too expensive. George approved their request to use slate instead of lead for the roof." Little tidbits like these are awesome additions to any kid's (or adult's!) repertoire.

The art is watercolor and ink and is the perfect blend of realistic, historic, and whimsical. Soft lines allow for landscapes to feel homey and the greens and browns hit home the hard work of the building project.

The champion of the project, George himself, never lived in the house. The book shows John and Abigail Adams, the first residents, moving into an unfinished home. The book is rich with back matter, including a photograph of the White House today; info on how the house has changed through years, presidents, and updates; an author's note; a source list; and a resource list for those wanting to learn more.

This book sits squarely in the camp of the idea that if you want to know about something, seek out a children's book first - chances are, you'll learn more than you thought possible in the pages of a 32 page picture book.

Happy Fourth of July. I'm not sure what George would think of us today, but he'd likely be pleased as Apple Pie about the shape the White House is in!

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

by Laban Carrick Hill

illustrated by Bryan Collier
Little, Brown | September 7, 2007

The 2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner and a 2011 Caldecott Honor book, Dave the Potter tells the story of Dave, a real man who lived in the 1800s and worked as a potter while he was a slave. Because he could create and throw giant pots - up to 14 gallons - he had a "better life" than many other slaves. He often marked the sides of his pots with lines of original verse, which is why we know who he is today.

The book is stunningly beautiful. I still can't pick it up without running my hand over the cover. Bryan Collier's magnificent mixed media artwork is layered in collage with his signature use of bits and pieces he finds, coupled with watercolor. That last part amazes me - the rich and royal hues (to steal a phrase from Carole King) are so deep and earth-toned, it takes a minute to believe it's watercolor. Dave's hands are the most striking. Collier has portrayed them as strong, expansive, and truly skillful. It is easy to imagine from the illustrations how this man made such large and useful vessels.

Hill's sparse words are perfect to tell the story of Dave's life. "Dave kicked/his potter's wheel/until it spun/as fast as/a carnival's wheel of fortune" is one example. A gorgeous three panel fold out spread depicting close-ups of hands forming a pot is coupled with "Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat" as the lead in, followed with "Dave's hands, buried in the mounded mud, pulled out the shape of a jar."

There is expansive back matter - information about Dave's life (what we know of it) and about the phrases he sketched onto his pots, an author's note and illustrator's note, a bibliography, and websites of interest.

This book is awesome for little ones to look at and for older readers who can understand the nuances of Dave's life as a slave and artist. This is the perfect example of why picture books are not only for our littlest people. I bought this one for a good friend for her birthday last year and she loved it. It's a story of hope and ownership and artistry. And those themes have no age limit.

Wideness and Wonder: The Life and Art of Georgia O'Keeffe

by Susan Goldman Rubin
Chronicle Books | April 6, 2011

Many of us are familiar with Georgia O'Keeffe's art. But what of her life? This succinct portrayal of her life from childhood through death is fascinating. In what we've come to expect from Rubin, it's put together beautifully with the younger reader in mind and it works perfectly. In what we've come to expect from Chronicle, it's well-designed and beautiful to look at, which is apropos - a beautiful book about art.

Lots of archival photos are included as well as O'Keeffe's art, as well. The brightly colored pages are reminiscent of the bright colors in her works. A full bibliography, photo credits, and index make for an extensive back matter.

If an adult reader wants to know more about O'Keeffe, go here first. And if your 6th or 7th grader is doing a report on someone next year, encourage them to choose this subject just so you can put this book on your coffee table afterwards!