Review by Booklist Review
"Alma Thomas is an abstract artist," meaning, "she takes in impressions that she observes and then expresses those things in a picture." T homas' signature technique involves "dashes of bright, bold colors in straight and curved lines," which she applies to a new painting inspired by something she saw on TV the year before. Alternating between the 1969 Apollo 10 space mission and Thomas' creation of Snoopy Sees a Sunrise in her studio, the story allows readers to appreciate how a view of Earth offered by the NASA astronauts led to an iconic, impressionistic masterpiece. "Alma's stripes" dance like confetti across digitally illustrated pages, while numerous quotes and a blend of tenses bring an immediacy and an intimacy to the text. Hefty back matter on Thomas and the Apollo missions, the mission's connection to Snoopy (with a subtle reference to Charlie Brown in the endpapers), source notes, and suggested further reading make this a great pick for STEAM content areas. An inspired look at the creative intersection of art and science.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The artistic process of abstract painter Alma Thomas (1891--1978) comes to light in this smart dual-strand picture book, which interleaves the stories of the Apollo 10 spaceflight and Thomas's creation of the painting "Snoopy Sees a Sunrise." Opening language connecting the parallel stories orients around the idea of dawn, establishing the artist's plans "for something new--a painting about the astronauts and the Moon." Zipping backward by a year, factual narration shifts to describing the Apollo 10 astronauts' eight-day trip. This alternating pattern further contextualizes its conjoined subjects, describing Thomas's brushwork ("Alma's stripes") and the astronaut's televised broadcasts ("You ought to see it up here"). With the help of sprightly digital illustrations--rendered in bright colors with thick brush strokes, redolent of its subject's work--the stories crescendo with the conclusion of the mission and Thomas's acclaimed painting, its confluence of art and science creating an ideal STEAM read. Extensive back matter includes more about the topics covered. Ages 6--10. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The 1969Apollo 10 mission--considered the "dress rehearsal" forApollo 11 and the moon landing--inspires Alma Thomas, a Black abstract painter, to create an iconic painting,Snoopy Sees a Sunrise.Though space travel is serious business, the astronauts give their spacecraft playful nicknames.Apollo 10's command module is dubbed Charlie Brown and the lunar module, Snoopy. Accordingly, Alma selects a fitting name for her work. Jacket art and endpapers artfully introduce the dual narrative; against the black of deep space float bright, confettilike shapes representing Alma's signature "stripes." Skillfully employing mixed-media and handmade scans, Crews uses different styles for each story. As the astronauts prepare for launch, the art looks fairly straightforward; as Alma prepares to paint, the palette turns colorful, with softer, rounded lines. The spare but informative text moves effortlessly between the parallel stories of the moon mission and Alma's painting. Even the description of abstract expressionism ("Thomas…takes in impressions that she observes and then expresses those things in a picture") is clear and age-appropriate. Crews' visually arresting design takes advantage of the dramatic vistas seen by the astronauts: The lunar module hurdles around a tilted gray moonscape, and when astronaut Thomas Stafford exclaims, "You ought to see it up here," multiple vintage TVs display images of the fragile and beautiful Earth. By contrast, Alma Thomas' interpretation is one of glowing colors surrounded with a pink wash of early morning. A powerful paean to both the space program and a noteworthy artist. (biography of Thomas, history of the Apollo program and its tradition of selecting mascots, photographs, source notes, bibliography, further reading)(Informational picture book. 5-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
