Review: Clever Way to Introduce Art History
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 1, 2013
The Hare with the Pearl Earring is an interactive eBook from Kite Reader that features famous artists from the past along with cute animal adaptations of their art.  Meet Van Crow, Wren-War, and Andy Warthog, along with several others as they paint their pieces inspired by Henny, a bunny artist's model.  As Henny meets each artist, kids will learn more about the style of their artwork, the period, and the history by following interactive links to the real artist.  My kids enjoyed comparing the animal-adapted pieces to the real paintings, such as the Hairy Lisa.  The Hare with the Pearl Earring is a cute story on its own, but I especially like how it teaches art appreciation and art history to kids in a fun way:"Andy paints soup cans, and bottles, and dollars.His art is big business and purchased by scholars.Henny models her face for Andy's new prints.He gives all six squares their own colorful tints.Andy uses bold colors, style, and flair.He calls his painting simply, 'The Hare.'"I thought Julia Dweck did a nice job of incorporating information about the artists into the rhyming text, and the story was simple enough for very young children to follow, while including enough clever plays on words and factual information to intrigue older readers.  The accompanying pages on the real artists include interesting details about the artists, and I learned some trivia I had never heard before, such as who the subject for the Mona Lisa might have been.  The illustrations by Patricia Saco are gorgeous, and she captures the essence of the famous artwork flawlessly along with the characteristics of the artists themselves. Van Crow even has a bandage on his "ear."  What a clever way to incorporate art into a child's life!{The publisher provided me with a copy of this eBook in exchange for my honest review.}