I worry about arts budget cuts in a month when worked with worried school art teachers, dedicated Teaching Artists, learned that the North Carolina Arts Council is funding my arts residencies in two low-wealth rural districts, and shared new wonderful books about the arts.
Three picture book biographies show the transformative power of art. Bonnie Christiansen’s Fabulous! A Portrait of Andy Warhol (Holt, ages 9 and up) starts by showing the “Prince of Pop Art” as decidedly unpopular—a sickly, blotchy- faced, red-nosed, bullied boy. But the careful examination Warhol developed in quiet childhood hours and his longing for success turned both common and celebrated facets of New York into dynamic subjects. Like the artist’s life, the book’s collaged, painted photos are vibrant and gritty with a slightly dark overtone.
Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome’s Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George (Schwartz and Wade, ages 8-10) tracks the 18th century life of the biracial son of a West Indies plantation owner. Talented and passionate about music, Joseph overturns French Court bias to build an illustrious career. Elizabeth Rusch’s For The Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart (Tricycle, ages 6-9) is an animated tale of the talented, and equally overlooked elder sister of the famous composer.
The power of process is vivid in Dianna Hutts Aston’s Dream Something Big: The Story of the Watts Tower (Dial, ages 5 and up). Aston’s invented child narrator from a lively mixed-race Los Angeles neighborhood views the true story of the quiet Italian immigrant who built elaborate towers from found bits for thirty-four years. Susan Roth’s textural mixed-media collages match Aston’s vivid language.
Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan track the development a collaboration of composer, choreographer, and artist in Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring (Roaring Brook, ages 9 and up). The spare text represents the rapid back and forth of ideas and dramatic simplicity of dancer Martha Graham, musician Aaron Copland, and set designer, Isamu Noguchi. Brian Floca’s illustrations have a fluidity, like the ballet that captured the American frontier spirit.
Two children show the spark of art. Louis Daniel’s mother is worried about the storm in Myron Uhlberg’s A Storm Called Katrina (Peachtree, ages 5-10). Louis refuses to be babied, but hugs his coronet close. Murky brown waters rise and Louis’ family rides a boat made of a torn up porch to the “hot and stinky” Superdome where they’re separated. Louis’ pluck and coronet finally unite them.
Sarah Sullivan’s Passing the Music Down (Candlewick, ages 6-10) begins at a concert in Appalachian August with “corn strutting high up in the fields and tomatoes plumping out on the vine”. Lyrical descriptions set place, tone and the shared musical passions of a young boy and the man who wants him to “pass the music down”. The book is based on the real relationship of celebrated musicians Melvin Wine and Jake Crack, friends and fiddling partners despite their seventy-five year gap in age.