Member Reviews
The Met Georgia O'Keeffe by Gabrielle Balkan is a beautiful introduction to the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe. Balkan provides an accessible and visually engaging story of an important artist in our nation’s history. This book illustrates how O’Keefe continues to impact our understanding of art and what motivated and compeled her to carve her own path and see the world in a new way, from the tiniest details to broad encompassing landscapes. Such an incredible woman!
The illustrations and storytelling in this book were just beautiful! I loved reading more about this artist's life and I think children will connect with her story and the beautiful works of art she created.
There was just something missing from this book for me. I love O'keeffe and the cover was excellent, as well as the illustration. I believe it was the placement of the text and the fonts used as they related to the illustration. It seemed a little disjointed and lacked flow, aside from some attempts to change to a d'nealian font that curved. I believe it would function better as full page illustrations, with adjacent pages of full text paragraphs.
This book provides a wonderful introduction to Georgia O’Keeffe. It is gorgeously and vibrantly illustrated and filled with details of Georgia’s life, the people that she knew, the places that were important to her and her evolution as an artist. It is geared toward elementary school age children.
This title also a timeline, glossary and a section titled “Try This Yourself.” Throughout, the author invites children to engage. She encourages them to observe their world and to paint or draw within it. Hopefully, some young readers creativity will be sparked.
I think that this book is very well done. Young artists should enjoy learning more about this woman who learned, grew and did things her way.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.
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What a wonderful book! Georgia O'Keeffe's life story is told in detail, with emphasis on circumstances in her youth that influenced the person and artist she became. Although the story is rich and detailed, the language is accessible and almost conversational. Reading this independently should be very manageable for older elementary kids reading at grade level.
On top of a well-told story and great illustrations, there are wonderful prompts for the reader--questions to ponder, art challenges to try, etc. This book has so much to offer and will undoubtedly engage and inspire budding young artists!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
Nicely written biography of Georgia O’Keefe. Beautiful illustrations. I liked the timeline in the back of the book. It also had a glossary.
This book introduces young readers to the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe. It is attractively formatted and includes many illustrations. Since the goal seems to get the reader to try seeing the world like the artist, it would have been helpful to emphasize this from the very beginning of the book. Instead, while reading about O’Keeffe’s life, questions are raised on each double page spread that invite the reader to do something related to the artist’s actions. For example, after reading about things the artist found on her walks, the following is addressed to the reader: “What objects can you find is you go for a walk where you live? Try drawing one floating in the sky.” A clear focus on the book’s “big idea” —what the artist saw and how that can help you to see—would help.