Tell me a picture

K-Gr 6-Believing that enjoyment of the art in picture books can be a prelude to pleasure in a museum, Blake designed an exhibit (with the same title as this book) at the National Gallery in London. The images in the show and on these pages come from European children's books and Great Britain's galleries and were chosen for their story potential. Blake's signature caricatures cavort and converse before and after each of the 26 pictures, modeling responses that invite imitation. His arrangement is alphabetical by artist, from Hendrick Avercamp to Lisbeth Zwerger. ("X," however, is an X ray of an underpainting, sure to fascinate since it is different from the surface.) Four pages are devoted to each entry. Initially, sketches of children, outlined in black and dabbed with gray/blue patches of color, carry signs that announce the artist's name. The spread that follows includes a blank, white page and then the featured art-a presentation that minimizes distraction. The fourth page provides the young visitors' emotional responses to the work. ("Nobody would buy that." "What do you think that music sounded like?") Most entries will be unfamiliar to American audiences, and some details are difficult to discern. As with any stroll through a museum, what strikes one's fancy is completely idiosyncratic. Blake's approach is an engaging path to art appreciation, with plenty of child appeal. The book concludes with illustrated and annotated attributions for each work and a list of locations/credits. A welcome addition to the realm of visual literacy for families and educators.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(Primary, Intermediate) Readers of these pages have already heard about ""Tell Me a Picture,"" the 2001 exhibit at London's National Gallery (""Back to the Laurel Grove,"" Brian Alderson, May/June 2002 issue). Blake, Britain's Children's Laureate at the time, chose an eclectic group of paintings, drawings, and prints (some by well-known children's book illustrators) that would inspire viewers to wonder about the story behind the image. Here Blake re-creates the gallery experience, giving each image a wordless double-page spread while notes at the back (to be read later, if at all, insists Blake) provide the artist's name and dates and the dimensions and history of the work. Interspersed are Blake's illustrations of a motley crew of museum-goers who react to the preceding image and introduce the next picture. These characters bound about with no sense of decorum, making comments that are freshly opinionated and age-appropriate. (Mom: ""I think it looks a bit dangerous."" Child: ""What's the fat one up to?"") Blake has placed the twenty-six pictures in alphabetical order (so that we won't think some pieces are more important than others), but while this is an alphabet book, starting with Avercamp and ending with Lisbeth Zwerger, there is nothing forced about the choices and no attempt to follow a rigid set of rules. (The letter x is represented by painter Harmen Steenwyck--an x-ray photograph of a still life that reveals a mysterious face hidden beneath the paint.) A big, square book with 128 pages, this may seem on first heft to be a daunting undertaking. But once the book is opened, Blake's sense of fun and superb art choices make the experience fly by. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.