Full of warmth and whimsy, this intelligent overview will surely spark interest and the urge to create.
A playful exploration of the many facets of a three-dimensional art form.
Borsato is a Canadian professor and visual and performance artist; Carlin is a celebrated British illustrator. Their pairing here is brilliant. The text is written in an informative but conversational style, as one might interact with students. Borsato adeptly explains the language of art—form, materials, negative space, minimalism, ephemera—as she describes examples and quotes artists. International luminaries, all of whom have created works loaded with child appeal, include Andy Goldsworthy and his natural materials, Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their wrappings, and Meret Oppenheim and her fur-covered teacup. Meanwhile, Carlin combines small toys, found objects, and her signature painted figures (who vary in skin tone) to illustrate the styles and subjects. White backgrounds provide unity and breathing space for the uncluttered, but tantalizing, page designs. Questions punctuate the narrative: Is an ice cream cone a sculpture? Discussing Thomas J. Price’s nine-foot bronze monument of a Black man, Borsato asks: “Who is celebrated and remembered in society?” She expands the notion of sculptor to include friends (one who built a stack of 199 pancakes that reached the ceiling) and readers. The author frequently invites readers to create, from building a kitty condo with cardboard boxes and recycled materials (after drawing comparisons between architecture and sculpture) to making mashups with broken toys and kitchen utensils.
Full of warmth and whimsy, this intelligent overview will surely spark interest and the urge to create. (sources, notes) (Nonfiction. 7-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9781774883013
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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