Matisse's Garden


Samantha Friedman - 2014
    It looked lonely all by itself, so he cut out more shapes to join it. Before he knew it, Matisse had transformed his walls into larger-than-life gardens, filled with brightly colored plants, animals, and shapes of all sizes! Featuring cut-paper illustrations and interactive foldout pages, Matisse’s Garden is the inspiring story of how the artist’s never-ending curiosity helped turn a small experiment into a radical new form of art.

Painting People: Figure Painting Today


Charlotte Mullins - 2006
    A new generation of artists--as well as some who never abandoned figurative painting in the first place--is relishing the solitary, slow, subtle set of processes involved in not just painting, but painting people. They are choosing paint's unique ability to distill a lifetime of events rather than photography's glimpse of a frozen moment. Painting People, edited by the prominent London art historian and critic Charlotte Mullins, unites and contrasts the work of a key group of artists from around the world, and investigates their richly varied accomplishments in lucid text with detailed commentaries, accompanied by more than 150 reproductions. The list of contributing artists is stellar, ranging from photo-based painters like Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig and Marlene Dumas to Pop artists like Sigmar Polke and Alex Katz, photorealists like Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter, Neoexpressionists like Cecily Brown, and comics-inspired painters like Yoshitomo Nara, Inka Essenhigh and Takashi Murakami. There are erotic grotesques from John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, meditations on the muse by Elizabeth Peyton and Lucian Freud, "Repro-realistic" work from Neo Rauch and of course self-portraits by Philip Akkerman and Marcel Dzama, among others.

Greek and Roman Myths: A Guide to the Classical Stories


Philip Matyszak - 2010
    This comprehensive companion takes these fragments and weaves them into an accessible and enjoyable narrative, guiding the reader through the basic stories of classical myth.Philip Matyszak explains the sequences of events and introduces the major plots and characters, from the origins of the world and the labors of Hercules to the Trojan War and the voyages of Odysseus and Aeneas. He brings to life an exotic cast of heroes and monsters, wronged women and frighteningly arbitrary yet powerful gods. He also shows how the stories have survived and greatly influenced later art and culture, from Renaissance painting and sculpture to modern opera, literature, movies, and everyday products.

Leonardo's Horse


Jean Fritz - 2001
    . . . An inventive introduction to the Renaissance and one of its masters." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)"An unusual and surprisingly touching story . . . . An offbeat and intriguing read." (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review)"At times sad, silly, and telling, this is a wholly entertaining book." (School Library Journal, starred review)"Filled with engaging details of Leonardo and his world. . . . Illustrations which range from utterly recognizable scenes of Florence to the ghostly horses at Leonardo's deathbed. . . . An unusual biography for young people, and one well worth poring over . . . . A unique way of picturing a unique world . . . . An extraordinary tribute." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

All the Time in the World: A Book of Hours


Jessica Kerwin Jenkins - 2013
    Divided into more than seventy-five entries, All the Time in the World is brimming with witty bons mots, interesting etymologies, and arresting anecdotes encompassing an array of cultures and eras. Subjects covered include the daylong ceremony of laying a royal Elizabethan tablecloth; the radicalization of sartorial chic in 1890s Paris; Nostradamus's belief in the aphrodisiac power of jam; the sensuous practice of sniffing incense in fifteenth-century Japan; the American fascination with flaming desserts; the short-lived artistic discipline of “lumia,” or visual music; the evolution of coffee from a religious ritual to a forbidden delight in the Middle East; Henriette d'Angeville's fearless and wine-fueled ascent of Mont Blanc; the elaborate treasure hunts concocted by London's Bright Young Things; and the musical revolution known as bebop. An antidote to the contemporary cult of “getting things done,” All the Time in the World revives forgotten treasures of the past while inspiring a passion for good living in the present.

The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America


Jaime Hernández - 2018
    Guided by the classic works of F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, Hernandez’s first book for young readers brings the sights and stories of Latin America to a new generation of graphic-novel fans around the world.

The Determined Heart: The Tale of Mary Shelley and Her Frankenstein


Antoinette May - 2015
    After losing her mother at an early age, she finds herself in constant conflict with a resentful stepmother and a jealous stepsister. When she meets the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, she falls deeply in love, and they elope with disastrous consequences. Soon she finds herself destitute and embroiled in a torturous love triangle as Percy takes Mary’s stepsister as a lover. Over the next several years, Mary struggles to write while she and Percy face ostracism, constant debt, and the heartbreaking deaths of three children. Ultimately, she achieves great acclaim for Frankenstein, but at what cost?

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse


Charlie Mackesy - 2019
    The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared millions of times online - perhaps you've seen them? They've also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Perhaps you saw the boy and mole on the Comic Relief T-shirt, Love Wins?Here, you will find them together in this book of Charlie's most-loved drawings, adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.

God Got a Dog


Cynthia Rylant - 2013
    The soft, reflective, and often humorous words and pictures create a glimpse into everyday life through wide and wondering eyes that blends the familiar with the profoundly spiritual.

The Faerie Ring


Kiki Hamilton - 2011
    Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring is a reservoir that holds a truce between the English royals and the world of the Fey. But there are many who want the ring, including the mysterious Rieker, a handsome pickpocket who has been watching Tiki, and a rebel group of UnSeelie fey who would do anything to break the truce...A delicious blend of urban fantasy and heart-stopping suspense, the story of THE FAERIE RING takes you from the gritty slums of London to the glittering ballrooms of the Royal Palace to the menacing Otherworld - in a spellbinding tale of mystery and suspense where nothing is what it seems...

My Name Is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter


Jeanette Winter - 1998
    While other girls played with toys and braided their hair, Georgia practiced her drawing and let her hair fly free. As an adult, Georgia followed her love of art from the steel canyons of New York City to the vast plains of New Mexico. There she painted all day, and slept beneath the stars at night. Throughout her life Georgia O'Keeffe followed her dreams--and so found her way to become a great American artist.

What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night


Refe Tuma - 2014
    Refe and Susan Tuma take this wonder several steps further in WHAT THE DINOSAURS DID LAST NIGHT.Every November, writer and social media master Refe Tuma and his wife, Susan, work into the night to bring their four children scenes from the secret lives of their toys -- specifically the nighttime antics of their plastic dinosaurs. The dinosaurs wreck bathrooms, destroy vases, rock out, encounter terrifying hot irons, even do the dishes with hilarious, magical results. Each scene is photographed in meticulous detail, letting viewers joyfully suspend disbelief and think to themselves -- just LOOK what the dinosaurs did last night!

The Dragons are Singing Tonight


Jack Prelutsky - 1993
    There's a `just right' quality to the verse that makes it a pleasure to read the words aloud. Because it appeals on so many levels, this is one poetry book that won't sit on the shelf for long."—Booklist.This New York Times Notable Book of the Year is a wonderful introduction to the pleasures of poetry and word play from a master of the genre, Jack Prelutsky.

Fantasy: An Artist's Realm


Ben Boos - 2010
    In this lavish volume, Ben Boos welcomes us to a land of his own creation, a land replete with beings of fantasy and folklore, including elves, dwarves, minotaurs, hobgoblins, and undead horrors. From the windy forests where elves and healers dwell to the misty coastal fortresses of Paladins and the towering libraries of Mages, each mysterious region comes alive in Ben Boos’s extraordinary art and descriptive text. Filled with exquisite detail on every page, this is an absorbing and inspiring fantasy experience not to be missed.

Action Jackson


Jan Greenberg - 2002
    Their lyrical text, drawn from Pollock's own comments and those made by members of his immediate circle, is perfectly complemented by vibrant watercolors by Robert Andrew Parker that honor his spirit of the artist without imitating his paintings.A photographic reproduction of the finished painting, a short biography, a bibliography, and a detailed list of notes and sources that are fascinating reading in their own right make this an authoritative as well as beautiful book for readers of all ages.Action Jackson is a Sibert Honor Book, a New York Times Best Book of the Year, and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.