Picture Book Review: Bridget's Beret

Bridget's Beret
Written and illustrated by:  Tom Lichtenheld
Published by: Henry Holt and Company, 2010

* My almost 7 year old daughter is very creative and likes to create all kinds of art.  So I've been on a little bit of an art book streak to help feed her interest and help her get to know some famous artists.  In this book, Bridget loves to draw so much, she prefers drawing to ice cream!  But before she can begin any masterpiece she has to put on her big, black, beret....because all great artists needed to wear one to make art, right? But one day while she was sitting outside drawing (her favorite place to draw), the wind blew her beret away.  She tried to find the beret, including filling out a "missing beret" report with the police and trying to find a replacement hat.  But without her beloved beret Bridget discovers she has artist block.  Eventually, Bridget's little sister helps her get over her artistic block and there's a happy ending. 

The book has portraits of some famous artists and some of Bridget's artwork is inspired by famous paintings (Andy Warhol's soup can, Van Gogh's "Starry Night").  At the end of the book Lichtenheld includes some inspirational tips on "How to Start Your Art." 

This was a book that the whole family enjoyed together.  I can see this book finding a permanent spot on our bookshelves since I know my daughter would go back to the "How to Start Your Art" section and create projects based on the ideas given!

This book was borrowed from the library.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Picture Book Review: Look! Look! Look! at Sculpture

Look! Look!  Look! at Sculpture
Written and Illustrated by:  Nancy Elizabeth Wallace with Linda K. Friedlaender
Published by: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2012

* My almost 7 year-old daughter is a budding artist.  She loves any type of crafty, creative arts and crafts type project.  I recently had a watercolor that she painted, of a fish in an ocean scene, matted and framed.  She made it in art class in Kindergarten but it seriously looks professional!  She did not get this talent from me.  My husband definitely passed down the artist genes to her. When I saw this book on the shelf at the library I thought that it might interest her and introduce her to a new medium. 

In this book three mice see a poster for a Celebrate Sculpture! event at the local art museum.  Of course they decide to go. The mice look at different exhibits of actual images of real sculptures.  They are mainly interested in the sculpture from the invitation (and also on the cover of the book) "Four Rectangles with Oblique Circles, 1966" by Barbara Hepworth.  The mice talk about the shapes and material the sculpture is made of as they observe the piece.  They then sketch and sculpt their own versions of what they see.  There is a lot of great art vocabulary introduced, like lines, shading, flat vs. 3-D, and texture.  I also liked how the mice went on a museum walk, with their hands behind their backs.  When my daughter was asked why are they walking with their hands behind their backs she was able to conclude that you shouldn't touch things at a museum (unless of course it's a Children's museum!).    At the end of the book the author explains what sculpture is and provides more examples.  She also gives instructions on creating Paper SHAPE Sculptures.  Detailed info about each of the sculptures in the book is also provided at the end.  This was a book that was enjoyed by us all.

Reading this book motivated my husband and I to think about taking our kids to an art museum.  We've been to many children's museums but I think the kids are old enough now to visit the Museum of Natural History or the Museum of Modern Art (the MOMA).  NYC is only a short train ride away.  This is something that we definitely plan to do in the next few months! 

This book was borrowed from the library.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

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