When enjoyed by adults and kids together, this book will deliver a pleasing, fresh mix of animal-art–inspired projects...
Families may want to ride the DIY wave with this attractive British import, which publishes simultaneously with the similarly conceived Get into Art: People (2013).
Youngsters are presented with a dozen works of art featuring animals and accompanying art projects of varying degrees of difficulty. The bright primary-colored cover and lively design (featuring a flap in each double-page spread) belie the inherent difficulty of most of these projects. The majority require far more than the usual paper-crayons-paste-scissors level of art supplies. Parents and teachers will need to carefully check the materials list for each project and gauge the child’s skill level to avoid frustration or failure. Some projects are simple and satisfying—like a vibrant cut-paper collage inspired by Matisse’s The Snail. Others are more complex and require adult support. A take on Escher’s Fish (E59) requires “graph paper, thin card stock, glue, ruler, pencil, scissors, tape, white paper, colouring materials (for example markers, oil pastels, watercolor paint, paintbrushes).” Brooks then directs children to create individual fish “outlined in marker, shaded with oil pastel [and] washed over with watercolor paint.” They are to then be pasted down in a carefully matched, tiled design for an Escher-style “Fish Squish.”
When enjoyed by adults and kids together, this book will deliver a pleasing, fresh mix of animal-art–inspired projects utilizing varying media and techniques. (table of contents, glossary, art materials checklist, index) (Nonfiction. 7-12)Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7534-7058-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid.
Black sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.
Alongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52351-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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