Review by Booklist Review
Like Micklethwait's other books in the I Spy series, including I Spy Shapes in Art (2004), this collection of large, beautiful reproductions in diverse styles and traditions is a great way to get even very young children to look closely at art and have fun. As children search for a pair of pink socks in Peter Blake's picture On the Balcony, they will find other pink shapes, including two folded arms. Along with a white crescent moon in a Magritte painting, they'll see a contrasting black-coated figure and a hat. Breakfast Still Life shows ordinary things (a silver spoon, an egg) in a stirring combination. From the abstract cover picture with its yellow circle to the fifteenth-century Nativity scene with a brown cow, there's so much to talk about. The interaction is the key to drawing children in. Names of the artists and places the artworks can be found are appended.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Micklethwait continues the series concept of matching simple, familiar statements with examples of ever-changing artistic styles and subject matter. The fine art included here ranges from a 15th-century Nativity scene ("I spy with my little eye a brown cow") to a 21st-century painting by Michael Craig-Martin entitled Eyetest, featuring brightly hued common objects arranged in a hierarchy of sizes ("I spy with my little eye lots of colors"). As viewers discover a purple square, green elephant, and pink socks, they are building up, in the author's words, "a store of images." The repetition of the refrain and the large font employed for each object, in combination with the visual clues, make this a natural choice for both preschoolers and beginning readers. Adults can easily extend the game with other items on the pages or with pictures in other settings, including galleries. Titles and artists are identified in context; dates and locations are provided as endnotes. In a market flooded with collections of reproductions masquerading as concept books, this one is the real deal.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (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.
