Written by Sarah Fabiny
Illustrated by Mike Lacey
Not everyone born to wealth loves it. Case in point, Beatrix Potter. She was born to a wealthy family in 1866 London, but wealth tied her hands. Well, perhaps, not completely wealth. It was also the time in which she was born. A wealthy young woman was not supposed to study science, draw animals or make her own living.
But that is exactly what Beatrix wanted and finally accomplished. It is sad how long it took success to find her, but perhaps the illness and loneliness actually helped her become a better storyteller.
Young readers will be amazed to find out how her stories began. They were letters she wrote to a little boy who was sick. She didn’t know what to write to him about so she told him a story about a young rabbit named Peter who got into a garden.
It is fascinating to read what Beatrix did with all the money she earned from her stories and illustrations. She helped make the world a better place with her stories and saved the part she loved best for future generations to enjoy.
Fabiny wrote a smooth and engaging narrative that reads as comfortably as a letter.
Educators will use this to fulfill core curriculum standards in history, biography, art, and literature. Librarians will use it to introduce a famous author and her wonderful books. Art teachers will use it to show how precise her illustrations were, and to encourage their students to practice over and over again their drawing of real subjects. This is a beautiful addition to Penguin’s, “Who Was?” series.
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- Title: Who Was Beatrix Potter?
- Author: Sarah Fabiny
- Illustrator: Mike Lacey
- Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap/ Penguin, 2015
- Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
- Format: Paperback, 112 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-448-48305-4
- Genre: Biography
- Grade level: 3-7
- Extras: Timeline, Bibliography, related web sites
Written by David A. Carter and James Diaz
More than one hundred years since the inception of modern art, there is still little general understanding about the discipline – what it is, what it does. In a new hands-on approach, the authors start to clear up the mystery for many readers. A brief background and history of all sculpture is followed by one- to two-page biographies of several of the giants of modern sculpture. The detailed photographs are great illustrations of the work talk about each artist. The authors are state the contributions each artist made to the art world in general and the current locations of some of their work.
Third graders and up will love the hands-on approach and creating the sculptures with their own little touches. The well-researched background provides a wealth of reference material useful to much older children. There is a lot to contribute to the readers’ comprehension of the text and of the art.
Through a review by a budding artist, we learned “the history section is fantastic. The authors have done a masterful job of providing enough information to whet kids’ appetite for learning about the history of sculpture” without overwhelming or boring young readers. Our artist “enjoyed the photographs of the different artists’ work and the ‘Did You Know’ blurbs that provided interesting tidbits about the artists.” She did wonder why there were only two female artists and why the biography spent so much time on how one dressed. She wanted to know more about Louise Nevelson’s artistic contributions. Regarding the materials for making sculptures, our artist “absolutely loved putting together the sculptures.” She proudly displayed them in her room. “Each piece took a while to put together, but the instructions and diagrams are clear and descriptive. She was able to complete the sculptures without any help.” The biggest problem was identification of individual sculpture parts after they were punched out of the cardboard. The pieces should probably be marked in some way.
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- Title: You Call That Art?! Learn about Modern Sculpture and Make Your Own
- Authors: David A. Carter and James Diaz
- Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2014
- Reviewer: Sue Poduska
- Format: Novelty, 48 paperback pages plus art materials
- Genre: Art, history
- ISBN: 978-1-4197-1307-1
- Extras: Art materials and instructions for possible use, three-page glossary, list of additional artists to check out, source notes, bibliography, websites for museums mentioned, index