Children's books about women in art 👩🎨
Notes From the Reading Nook: August 31
Good morning, good people. Thanks for being here.
Tomorrow my 2021 special edition on fall will be arriving in a shower of golden light to all subscribers, free and paid (this is how I imagine it in my mind). If you’re inclined to pass on this newsletter to someone you know who may enjoy it, now is the time — I’ll be reviewing eight excellent titles for fall and recommending many more, including, as always, special lists of poetry, books especially for babies and toddlers, and titles for older readers or read-alouds (many of you have told me how much you like this categorical breakdown — I do too! which is why I keep doing it).
Likewise, for the price of 1.5 pumpkin spice lattes, you could gift this newsletter for a month. Or go nuts, buy the equivalent of 13 PSLs, and pass it on for a whole year. (Either way, this is better than a PSL for at least three reasons I can think of immediately.)
If you’re just like, Sarah, leave me in peace to read your reviews and stop hyping your newsletter all the time! 🤷🏻♀️ I love doing this and I want to get it in the hands of as many people as possible. Thanks for reading and sharing and passing it on, in whatever way you feel led (or not). I’m grateful for you, either way.
What we’re reading
Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman
No Means No! by Jayneen Sanders
Tell Me a Tattoo Story by Alison McGhee (I got this one from the library thinking my husband would enjoy reading it to our girls at bedtime, without realizing this would likely prompt his telling them his tattoo stories, not all of which are, uh, kid-friendly 🤔 😳 🤦🏻♀️ )
Mini issue: Women in art
On the day of the month on which each of my children were born (e.g., the 15th and the 29th), I have a repeating event on my calendar — a “review” that prompts me with the following questions:
How are things going with [her name]?
What challenges is she currently facing? How can I support her? What changes can we make?
What does she most need from me right now? What would make her feel good right now?
What good do I see in her that I can share with her? When can I seek her out to praise her, bombard her with love and noticing? What can I tell her about who I see her becoming?
How can I bring a little magic to her life this month?
I stole this idea years and years ago from Elsie Iudicello of Farmhouse Schoolhouse and adapted it for my own uses — to not only make sure my children feel loved, seen, and supported, but as a way to help myself stay present in these fleeting years of seemingly constant change and tremendous growth. This ensures that once a month I am checking in deeply with each of my daughters.
Anyway, after August’s event popped up for my 7yo, one of my answers to “What would make her feel good right now?” was “Things that support her as an artist.” One of those “things” is more books about artists — she has a small collection of these but other than coming across them randomly at library sales or in bookstores, I’ve never actually sought them out in an effort to add fuel to this spark and to help her see herself, a little girl who identifies as female, in the image of “artist.”
Nothing makes me happier than a booklist (obviously) — and I haven’t done a mini issue in awhile, so here we are. Whether you yourself have a burgeoning artist of any gender or you’d just benefit from some fresh books on the topic of art (or fresh books, period), there is a lot of rich information and inspiration in these titles.
Please note that when it comes to nonfiction and/or biography I always prioritize well-written, compelling narrative (what I have explained in the past as a living book). There are plenty of children’s titles about artists of all kinds that are as dry as a textbook. There are also plenty of excellent children’s titles about art history, or a handful of artists with something in common, or artists from a particular movement — I have not included any of those. This list is also not exhaustive by any means — no doubt I’ve missed a lot — I was merely going for “stories about female artists that my creative, sensitive eldest child might enjoy,” and nothing more.
An incomplete list of books about women in art:
Architects:
Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid by Victori Tentler-Krylov
Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines by Jeanne Walker Harvey
The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid by Jeanette Winter (we already know and like this one)
Animators/illustrators:
Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney Artist Extraordinaire by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville (we’ve gotten this from the library several times and my daughter loves it)
It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way by Kyo Maclear
Mary Blair’s Unique Flair: The Girl Who Became One of the Disney Legends by Amy Novesky
Painters:
Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler by Elizabeth Brown
Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown
Beautiful Shades of Brown: The Art of Laura Wheeler Waring by Nancy Churnin
Yayoi Kusama Covered Everything in Dots and Wasn't Sorry. by Fausto Gilberti (I love the title of this book, right down to the period at the end)
Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington by Michelle Markel
Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales (this is particularly vivid and beautiful)
Me, Frida by Amy Novesky
Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Victoris Rodriguez
Frida by Jonah Winter (naked baby Frida arrives in the world sleeping on the back of a colorful fierce dragon — yes please)
Art From Her Heart: Folk Artist Clementine Hunter by Kathy Whitehead
My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter
Photographers:
Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression by Carole Boston Weatherford
Imogen: The Mother of Modernism and Three Boys by Amy Novesky
Dorothea’s Eyes: Dorothea Lange Photographs the Truth by Barb Rosenstock
Sculptors:
Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis by Jeannine Atkins
A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa by Andrea D’Aquino
Ruth Asawa: A Sculpting Life by Joan Schoettler
In Her Hands: The Story of Augusta Savage by Alan Schroeder
Weavers:
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois by Amy Novesky
Here’s to helping the kids in our lives pursue the things that make their hearts sing.
If you liked this mini issue, here are others from the past couple months that might still be relevant as we all squeeze the last drops from summer (or maybe that’s just me and any of you who also reside in a USDA Hardiness Zone where things are already genuinely dying and the trees will be bare in six weeks):
Read good books and take good care 😘
Sarah
Oh how fun, Jeanette Winter wrote a book about Corita Kent!!! (Thank you for the intro to a new author)