a little boy is presenting his knowledge of pablo picasso to his class. provides important information about pablo's life.
6 books

The Smart About Art series is really great. Just as in the other one I read in the series, this book is presented as a child's class report on an artist. This time, the student is a boy from Ms. Brandt's class, Simon, who settles on Picasso because his twin brother already took his favorite artist, Monet (which makes me want to buy the Monet book and see if it is, indeed, a report by his brother Steven). Fortunately, he learned to like his artist, as he explains at the beginning of the report. The narrative is written as if we were reading the class report that Simon turned in, with illustrations Simon purportedly drew to accompany his work, reprints of paintings by Picasso, and one photograph of the man himself. The book covers the major points of Picasso's life, along with the periods of his art and the evolution of his style. As the title suggests, the report focuses on the theme that Picasso frequently broke the rules of art, and other people's expectations, to paint what and how he wanted.

The format presents information in a way that is very accessible for children. It has a wealth of details about Picasso and his art, but the tone is successful at imitating a child's voice, which is inviting for younger readers, and the text is broken up by the pictures, both reprints and original drawings. Also, the author uses a lot of humor and exhibits a clear passion for Picasso's work. This series is fabulous - I love the artists presented and I love the concept of a child's report. In addition, if you look at the series as a whole, it includes a further element of cultural diversity. The students writing the reports have different ethnicities: the last book was written by an African American girl, and this one is written by an Anglo twin boy. Enough of their imagined personality shines through the book to show that children of all backgrounds are enriched by fine art. I certainly plan on collecting more of this series, and look forward to the time when my girls are a bit older and will read them with me. ( )