Updated: Nov 11
Painting a Family Legacy
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Christy Ottaviano Books
(Little, Brown and Company
Books for Young Readers)
pub. 10.7.2025
40 pages
Ages 5 - 9
Author and Illustrator: Gene Barretta
Character: Andrew Wyeth
Overview:
"Andrew Wyeth is one of the greatest American painters of the twentieth century. Before he found his creative voice, he was a boy growing up in an artistic family, spending his time in rural Pennsylvania and Maine.
Andy, as he was called by his family, was trained by his father, renowned artist N.C. Wyeth, but they didn’t always see eye to eye. Pa wanted his son to work in bold, bright colors, and to fill his compositions with exciting characters and places. But to Andy, the most exciting stories to paint were the ones he lived every day, that featured the familiar people and places he loved most."
Tantalizing taste:
"The paintings tell Andy and Betsy's life story in the same ways that diaries and scrapbooks do; the people and places were an intimate part of their lives ...
Andy's watercolors can be abstract and wild. As if his brush cut across the paper like a sword, splashing paint in every direction. The egg temperas can feel quiet and poetic, carefully crafted in a private meditation over the course of months."
And something more: The DId You Know? section explains: "Andy never felt the need to change his style to fit in with popular trends. That made him unpopular with certain critics who failed to see that his realistic subjects were depicted with modern, abstract compositions and painting techniques."
Lovely quote by him: "I think one's art goes as far and as deep as one's love goes."
- Oct 24
How Dr. Kathleen Friel
Created New Possibilities
for Brain Research and Disability
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Millbrook Press / Lerner Books
pub. 9.9.2025
32 pages
Ages 6 - 10
Author: Danna Zeiger
Illustrator: Josee Bisaillon
Character: Kathleen Friel
Overview:
"When Kathleen Friel was young, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and a doctor told her parents all the things she'd never be able to do.
They left his office for good and found a new doctor.
As Kathleen grew up, she found her own methods to tackle tricky tasks and make her way through the world. After becoming fascinated by science, she went on to earn a PhD, investigating how injured brains can build new connections. She now runs her own lab, developing new techniques to help others with cerebral palsy."
Tantalizing taste:
"The world is full of limitations,
but as Kathleen discovered,
there are many ways to wish on dandelion wisps.
Kathleen just had to find her own."
And something more: Danna Zeiger in the Author's Note explains: "Kathleen has taught me a lot of complicated scientific concepts and techniques over the years. However, the most valuable lesson she taught me, which I hope readers glean from this book, is this: People who think or move differently 'have so such to offer!'"
- Sep 28
The Life and Work
of Imogen Cunningham
A TRUE TALE WITH
A CHERRY ON TOP
Viking Books for Young Readers
(Penguin Random House)
pub. 8.26.2025
40 pages
Ages 4 - 8
Author: Elizabeth Partridge
Illustrator: Yuko Shimizu
Character: Imogen Cunningham
Overview:
"Imogen Cunningham loved to observe the world. She noticed the colors in the woods outside her house and how light and shadows moved between the trees. She tried to capture this beauty on paper with pencils, but something was missing. One day she read about a woman in Paris who earned a living as a photographer, and she knew she was meant to do the same. With the support of her loving father, she then began her journey to become one of the most important photographers in America."
Tantalizing taste:
"Imogen and her friends went out in the woods and read poetry
to one another. She draped them in gauzy fabrics and took photographs
as they acted out the poems.
Inside her darkroom, she developed the negatives and made prints,
then hung them up to dry.
There it was, right in the photographs, all the soft cadence of the
poetry, all the beauty, all the feelings she carried deep inside her.
Nothing was missing."
And something more: Elizabeth Partridge in the Author's Note explains: "Imogen Cunningham was my grandmother. To me, she was always very old, and always a photographer. Cameras and taking photographs and making beautiful prints were all woven so deeply in her, it was impossible to separate Imogen from her photography. Photography was not something she did; it was who she was.…
I learned to watch my grandmother in the garden with her plants, or when we were out together on the steep, busy streets. I wanted to see what she was noticing, see what caught her eye. 'I don't hunt for things,' she said. 'I just wait till something strikes me.' Ordinary moments that I overlooked would capture her attention: someone counting out change in the palm of their hand or the zigzagging shadow of outside stairs against a wooden building."
