An inspiring feast for eyes and mind.
Art historian Hessel adapts her New York Times bestselling 2023 work for a younger audience.
“Why is this a history of art without men?” the author asks. She explains that a visit to an art fair as a young person where she saw not a single piece by a female artist spurred her to action. Here, she chronicles art history, going movement by movement, with an emphasis on female artists around the world from the Renaissance on. “Katy,” as Hessel introduces herself early on, makes for an inquiring, chatty guide, and the pages will fly by. She deftly intertwines explanations of concepts such as perspective and discussions of great works with context about the systemic sexism these women faced. Many female artists, not granted the freedom men had to venture out in search of different subject material, focused on domestic scenes—she invites readers to look closely at Berthe Morisot’s The Artist’s Sister at a Window (1884). She notes, too, that lack of funding made creating art especially challenging for Black female artists, like sculptor Augusta Savage, who used shoe polish to simulate the look of bronze in her work. Zhu’s breezy, engaging, color-block vignettes alternate with excellent reproductions of paintings, photos, and sculptures. Suggested “art tasks” provide potential creative catalysts. Concise yet thorough and engaging, this is an impressive introduction to art history; its focus on those whose names are often omitted makes it essential reading.
An inspiring feast for eyes and mind. (artwork credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781324125969
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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