MADreads

Painting from the heart
A review of Just Behave Pablo Picasso by Jonah Winter

 If you are looking for a book that reinforces following your heart, this is it. Pablo Picasso has a natural ability for painting, and people love his “rose-colored paintings.” He makes a very good living painting them. However, he is bored to tears and doesn’t care about making a living, he longs to paint something different. After viewing an art exhibit featuring African masks, he begins painting in an abstract manner and creates his famous painting,“Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon.” It is so ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on May 17, 2013 | 0 comments

Not so new anymore, but still so good.
A review of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

 If you missed this book when it first came out in 2009, now's your chance to check it out. This is a book to be savored. The pace is slow, similar to the steamy hot Texas summer of 1899 when the story takes place. Calpurnia (Callie) is the only girl in a houseful of brothers. When her elusive, naturalist grandfather notices her writing observations of the world around her, she becomes his assistant, working alongside him in his laboratory behind the family home. It is in this lab where she ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on April 26, 2013 | 0 comments

A must-read
A review of Wonder by R.J. Palacio

 I could not put this book down--it was an engrossing, emotional rollercoaster ride. Ten-year-old August (Auggie), is going to school for the very first time after being homeschooled by his mother. He is apprehensive about entering the 5th grade because of the way he looks. Auggie was born with severe facial deformities that have required extensive surgeries, but he still doesn’t look “normal.” At one point, Auggie says, “I won’t describe what I look like.  Whatever you are thinking, it’s ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on December 7, 2012 | 1 comment

These houses are very, very, very fine houses
A review of If You Lived Here by Giles Laroche

 Artistically, this is one of the coolest books I’ve ever seen. I can only imagine the time that went into the creation of each illustration. The artist has fashioned the most amazing, intricate bas-relief cut-paper collages of fifteen very unique homes from different time periods and from a variety of countries around the world. One could easily spend many hours looking at the incredible detail on each page. From cave dwellings to castles and yurts to airstream trailers, each home includes a ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on August 17, 2012 | 0 comments

What really happened?
A review of Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Bradley

 Kimberly Bradley, along with almost everyone else who has researched the topic, believe that Thomas Jefferson, former president of the United States and the author of the Declaration of Independence, fathered seven children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, after his wife Martha past away. The names, ages, and the work that the children did are historically documented, but their feelings and conversations are not. With painstaking detail, Bradley writes the story of what it might have ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on June 8, 2012 | 0 comments

Tall, dead and handsome
A review of Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio

 Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a funny, sweet story about how Mortimer, a zombie, goes about trying to find love. When a box of chocolates filled with worms and a heart (that looks like the real thing) fail to attract a girl, he decides to write a personal ad for the newspaper. Part of it reads, “Tall, Dead, & Handsome, If you like taking walks in the graveyard and falling down in the rain. If you’re not into cooking, if you have half a brain.” He ends the ad by asking a potential ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on February 10, 2012 | 0 comments

What color is a horse?
A review of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle

 The artist being referred to in this story is Franz Marc, a famous abstract artist who was criticized for painting a horse blue. The author Eric Carle believes that “children ought not be inhibited by conventional rules (in art) but, instead should be encouraged to express their natural talents freely and joyfully.” To express this belief, Carle paints pictures of various animals in unusual colors. There is an orange elephant, a red crocodile, a polka-dotted donkey and several more uniquely ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on December 30, 2011 | 0 comments

How Lumphy, StingRay, and Plastic came to be
A review of Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins

 Fans of acclaimed author Emily Jenkins's and Caldecott Award-winner Paul Zelinsky's Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party, will ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on October 18, 2011 | 0 comments

Blueberry Goldilocks
A review of Goldilocks by Ruth Sanderson

 Vivid oil paintings accompany this unique version of Goldilocks and The Three Bears. “Goldilocks loved to pick blueberries,” and she discovers the Bears' home while she is out picking them. She walks inside and here the traditional story ensues; she eats porridge, breaks a chair and falls asleep. When the bears find her sleeping, though, Baby Bear asks to keep her (instead of her running away). Goldilocks is then put to work making the beds and weaving canes to repair the chair. All of a sudden ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on August 12, 2011 | 0 comments

Springtime Ballet
A review of Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg

 “Before it was a dance it was a story.” The classic ballet, Appalachian Spring, was brought to life through the collaboration of three very talented artists. Martha Graham, the famous dancer and choreographer, wrote and performed in the ballet that tells the story of American life during pioneer days. Aaron Copland composed the music based on the well-known Shaker hymn, “Simple Gifts” and artist Isamu Noguchi built the angular, minimalist set, which has been described as similar to the way in ...read more

Reviewed by Lesley K on April 29, 2011 | 0 comments

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