JUST BEHAVE, PABLO PICASSO! by Jonah Winter with illustrations by Kevin Hawkes (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic 2012) is a perfect example of narrative nonfiction. Here is a biography of gifted artist Picasso from his childhood as a prodigy to his adulthood where he was both lauded at first and later decried when critics failed to see Picasso's vision. Hawkes' illustrations are rather cinematic, serving to draw readers into the text and the illustrations (and sometimes, the text is part of the illustration). Picasso is fresh faced and larger than life in some double page spreads. In others, he appears arrogant, determined, and ultimately serene. An afterword discusses Cubism and other aspects of Picasso's art. Hawkes manages to work some of Picasso's masterpieces into the illustrations as well. A good pairing might be one of the books in the series "WHAT MAKES A ____ A ___________?" (what makes a Van Gogh a Van Gogh?). <195>
I was just discussing narrative nonfiction books with a 5th grade class. This would have been a great addition to other books I shared.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to recommend this book to one of my students. We worked on research these last two weeks and she chose Pablo Picasso, she loves his paintings and was very excited about learning facts about his life, I bet she'd love to read even more now that she is even more interested in Picasso.
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