Come Look With Me: Animals in Art
The theory that interest in fine art can be kindled by actively engaging children in discussion shapes this series, now on its third volume. From a Lascaux cave painting to a Rauschenberg collage, 12 chronologically ordered paintings are paired with questions that guide viewers in pondering an artist's intentions or identifying elements of form, line, composition, color, etc. For example, "Would you be afraid to walk among these animals? Why or why not?" accompanies Edward Hicks's The Peaceable Kingdom . Often dull exercises in tallying similar objects, her questions are sometimes rhetorical, as in the suggested resemblance between Paul Klee's Cat and Bird and a mask, and seem ill-suited to the suggested age range. Supplementary texts--covering biographical details, iconography and, occasionally, style--seem to be aimed at adults rather than children. Unlike the exhibit mounted in I Spy (see above), Blizzard's selection of paintings is insufficiently varied, and her book never rises above the dutiful. Ages 5-10.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.