Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 5^-7. In a very readable, almost conversational style, this very handsome book discusses Wood's childhood poverty, his long years of struggle, his studies abroad, his strong ties to Iowa, and his sudden success and fame as an artist. Despite the minor error of referring to the woman in American Gothic as the farmer's wife, rather than his daughter, the text provides a good, basic introduction to Wood's work and his life as an artist. Throughout the book, reproductions (most in full color) of the paintings and black-and-white photographs of the artist add greatly to the book's usefulness and visual appeal. Appended is a three-page drawing lesson, "Drawing and Painting like Grant Wood," which shows four stages of drawing a chicken and encourages children to start with basic tools and simple shapes. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A Midwestern plainspokenness shapes this account of the native son's life and work, told here as a sort of farm-bred fairy tale of early hardship and eventual triumph. Wood's monetarily poor but visually rich childhood and determined pursuit of his own artistic vision are described in an unsentimental but lively manner, the scope and tone well suited to the target audience. With its stately layout, handsome full-page color reproductions, monochrome line art, vintage photographs and quick demonstration of the artist's hen-drawing technique, the book itself is inviting. A few inconsistencies-paintings reproduced but not mentioned in the text and others referred to but not shown-and the lack of bibliography are unfortunate oversights, and the absence of detailed captions may cause confusion as readers will not immediately recognize all the illustrations as Wood's works. The treatment of Wood's contacts with the abstract style and impressionism, meanwhile, seems almost xenophobic (a teacher explains impressionism by holding one of Grant's watercolors under a running faucet). Still, Duggleby's homage to his fellow Iowan is a quietly inspiring portrait of the hard work, perseverance and down-home quirkiness of a major artist, and a clear exposition of his place in American culture. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4 UpThe most famous American painting may be Wood's American Gothic, with its weathered, pitchfork-holding farmer and aproned wife. Readers meet the mid-Western farm boy who studied art in France and Germany, but always returned to America's heartland. His style was clean and photographically precise, his landscapes "...realand not quite realat the same time." Critics called his style "Regionalism" and began to notice and celebrate American painters. Duggleby's title is fittingly large and square, with cover and endpapers decorated with cows, chickens, and farm implements. Wood's paintings are beautifully reproduced, most in full color, and the wide margins, decorated chapter headings, and clear typeface make the book a pleasure to read. The author writes with great skill, telling Wood's story not simply with dates and places, but with anecdotes, descriptions, and snatches of conversation. He brings the artist to lifehis shyness and stubbornness, his dreams and disappointments, his way of winning friends, and his determination to paint in his own way. He makes Wood out to be a person worth knowing and knowing about. Few books, if any, are available on the subject. This gem of a book is marred only by a lack of documentation.-Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Younger) Illustrated by June Otani. Word spreads quickly once the workers from an office park in downtown Tokyo see a mother duck and her ten babies, eleven wild kamo, living around the pool. One of their many visitors is a news photographer named Mr. Sato, or Sato-san, who names the smallest duckling Chibi, Japanese for tiny. When her family outgrows the office park pool, the mother duck decides to move them to the Emperor's Gardens just across the street. The street, however, is a busy eight-lane thoroughfare. An increasing number of duck watchers await the move, though it is Sato-san who realizes when it starts and helps usher the duck family safely through the traffic. The ducks are content in their spacious new home until an unusually strong series of storms disrupts life on the moat. When the duck watchers are able to come back, they discover three ducklings, including Chibi, missing. Though one duckling drowns, two return unharmed, and Sato-san is able to document Chibi's victorious return, "balanced like a surfer on a piece of Styrofoam," with his camera. A special duck house, ordered by the Emperor, remains to this day in Tokyo's Imperial Gardens. Told in a crisp, straightforward style, this dramatic story, so reminiscent of Robert McCloskey's 1941 classic, Make Way for Ducklings, is based on actual events. Japanese words written in English characters are integrated into the text and also listed with a pronunciation guide and definition at book's end. Gentle, uncluttered, realistic watercolor-and-ink illustrations move the story along, are sometimes quite dramatic, and occasionally capture a sense of traditional Japanese painting. m.b.s. Martha Cooper Anthony Reynoso: Born to Rope (Picture Book) Illustrated with photographs by Ginger Gordon. In this straightforward photo essay about a third-generation Mexican-style roper-in-training, clear, well-composed, dramatic photographs add depth, clarification, and atmosphere to a first-person, unselfconscious text ("As soon as I could stand, my dad gave me a rope"). The content is broader than many other examples of the genre, showing glimpses of Tony's life and activities outside of roping that round out the experience. An attractive package that will appeal to all children who strive to hone a skill requiring much attention and practice. e.s.w. John Duggleby Artist in Overalls: The Life of Grant Wood (Intermediate) Illustrated with reproductions in color. Given the popularity of Grant Wood's American Gothic, it is surprising that no book for children is available on the life of the great Regionalist painter. Now a fellow-Iowan has remedied the situation with a handsome, easy-to-read biography that places Wood's life against the background of the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution and its influences on American culture. Beginning with Wood's boyhood, the book describes his early interest in drawing, his education, and his attempts to earn a living in such diverse areas as jewelry making and teaching. Duggleby conveys quite well Wood's struggle to find a unique style at a time when the impressionists dominated the world of art, and the intense observation of his environment that enabled him to capture the essence of the United States heartland. Particularly worthwhile is the analysis of influences on his development, notably that of the Renaissance painters whose precision and attention to detail accorded well with his own inclinations. Realism tempered by memory, his work eventually made him an art world celebrity, "an American artist who painted American subjects in an original, American way." Duggleby captures this sense of Wood's roots, which the book's lavish use of color reproductions and decorative sketches ably supports. An afterword offering advice on "Drawing and Painting like Grant Wood" is for a younger audience than the main text implies; the lack of any notes or bibliography is a serious omission. The list of locations for the paintings reproduced in the book is, however, a valuable supplement. m.m.b. Barbara Juster Esbensen Swift as the Wind: The Cheetah (Picture Book) Illustrated by Jean Cassels. Elegantly and instructively illustrated with carefully detailed paintings, this introduction to the fastest land animal includes sufficient information to provide a basic understanding of the cheetah and to differentiate the cheetah from other big cats. The paintings clearly depict the creature's habitat and are faithful not only to the cheetah's anatomy but to that of its victims as well. The author explains the factors that make cheetah survival difficult and contribute to this animal's status as an endangered species. In two or three places the printing is difficult to read, but young readers will overcome this slight problem as they take in the drama of life on the Serengeti. e.s.w. Margery Facklam Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars (Younger) Illustrated by Paul Facklam. Banded woolly bears, bagworms, green grapplers, tent caterpillars, hickory horned devils, and tomato hornworms are among the baker's dozen of caterpillars featured in this informative picture book. Set against variously shaded blue backgrounds, each entry features a page of text facing a large drawing of the caterpillar, usually situated among the leaves it eats. A band of contrasting color runs along the bottom of each double-spread page and contains several small drawings of the chrysalis or cocoon and the adult butterfly or moth. As in her many science books, Margery Facklam here writes lucid explanations with a nice flair for interesting bits of information. "The tent caterpillar moth lays a mass of two or three hundred eggs on a tree. She covers them with a waterproof liquid like a coat of hard, shiny varnish to protect them from all kinds of weather." Entries feature distinctive behavior and physical characteristics of the species along with the particular stages of metamorphosis into a moth or butterfly. An introductory essay talks about the physical components, silk spinning, shedding of exoskeletons, and the four stages of life common to all types. Paul Facklam's colorful paintings tend to overdramatize but also command attention. The transformation inherent in the caterpillar life cycle, ever fascinating to children, is well served in this handsome introduction to a complex insect. Glossary. m.a.b. Paul Fleischman Dateline: Troy (Intermediate, Older) Collages by Gwen Frankfeldt and Glenn Morrow. The story of the Trojan War "is old news, more than three thousand years old. The story was ancient even to the ancient Greeks"; but again it has been retold. It is evident in this adroit, concise adaptation that truths, particularly those that reveal human nature, are often timeless, as the author juxtaposes twentieth-century news items with events of the Trojan War. The tragic tale of Troy began when Hecuba, queen of Troy, dreamed that her as yet unborn child would cause the city's destruction. She immediately consulted a priest of the god Apollo to interpret the dream and read the future. Centuries later, in May 1988, a headline in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA) read, "Reagans Use Astrology, Aides Confirm." The writer of this article contends that the President's wife "is particularly worried about the impact of astrological portents on her husband's safety." The story of Troy unfolds with contemporary events revealed through reproductions of actual clippings on the opposing page. The clippings are usually legible, arranged within handsome collages in black, white, and sepia tones. Credits for the sources of the clippings are provided at the end of the book. Odysseus's fate as retold here, in which he dies at the hands of one of his sons after years of wandering, is based on a post-Homeric legend to accentuate the final message. The author concludes the story of the Trojan War with the question, "Who could tell the victor from the vanquished?" as current headlines on the opposite page detail the "human cost of war" to provide a stirring - if overt - message. m.b.s. Ted Lewin, Author-Illustrator Market! (Picture Book) "From the chill highlands of the Andes to the steamy jungles of central Africa, from the fabled souks of Morocco to the tough New York waterfront, people come to market. . . . They come to sell what they grow, catch, or make, and to buy what other people grow, catch, or make." Ted Lewin's richly detailed watercolor paintings convey the color and bustle of the marketplace as a human arena common worldwide and with distinctive characteristics according to country. An Ecuadorian marketplace is the first visited, where descendants of the Incas bring onions and bitter potatoes, sweaters and ponchos, bowls made of used tires, knives, rope, reeds, and spices. The five other venues include the souks of Morocco, an Irish horse market, New York City's Fulton Fish Market, a countryside market in Uganda and a city market square in Nepal. Full double-page spreads, usually three sets of them per country, vividly express the activities and the people of each place. Brief text, placed near the bottom or the top of one page in each spread, describes the setting, the journey to market, and the products that are for sale. In spite of the lack of a map, this is an inviting armchair journey and a thoughtful exploration of longstanding social practices. m.a.b. Wendy Pfeffer What's It Like to Be a Fish? (Picture Book) Illustrated by Holly Keller. "Fish live in water - in lakes, ponds, aquariums, and even plastic bags." This basic lesson in ichthyology is constructed around observing the goldfish a small boy purchases at a pet store. Simple, informative explanations point out how breathing, sleeping, eating, and swimming in the underwater environment differ from the ways humans do these things. Pfeffer is careful as well to make the appropriate analogies between the captive fish in their bowl and fish living in the natural world. Holly Keller's crisp sketches and attractive watercolors include smaller views of life in the bowl and pleasant double-page aquatic scenes in which "bigger fish feed on worms, crabs, shrimp, and other fish" as they participate in the food chain. The decision not to cover the whole life cycle pares the book into a sharply focused presentation for beginning readers. Practical concluding instructions for setting up a goldfish bowl make the book a good introduction to pet care as well as a useful science lesson. m.a.b. John B. Severance Winston Churchill: Soldier, Statesman, Artist (Intermediate) Illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Winston Churchill was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, most celebrated as the intrepid British Prime Minister during World War II. Along with a chronological and straightforward account of his life, Severance gives considerable attention to Churchill's superb command of the English language in both writing and speaking, his sense of humor, his personal and family life, and his passion for painting. The admiration is not blind: Severance also points out Churchill's sometimes domineering and even bullying behavior. A fair, balanced, and duly appreciative bibliography, handsomely produced and illustrated with a fine collection of photographs. Index. a.a.f. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The painting American Gothic has become so ubiquitous that children may associate it with cartoons or cereal boxes without realizing its artistic origins. This biography of the painting's creator, Grant Wood, introduces readers to a shy artist who worked in the style now called Regionalism to represent his midwestern surroundings. Wood's dreamy nature didn't always fit with the rigors of Iowa farm life into which he was born. Duggleby includes many anecdotes from Wood's childhood, to help readers understand the boy's struggle to become an artist. The biography is supplemented with plenty of large black-and-white and full-color reproductions of his art, which serve as illustrations for Wood's life story. Photos are used, too: A particularly interesting one is of the two models for Wood's most famous painting. The only oddity in this volume is a tacked-on ending: three pages of instructions for drawing chickens. Bland art instructions read like filler in an otherwise eloquent volume. (Biography. 8-12)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
