Salvador Dalí and the Surrealists: Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities (For Kids series)
Grade 6 Up-This visually stunning work enhances the body of material on the artist and his contemporaries. Eminently readable, the crisply written text is detailed and thorough, including pronunciations of many place and personal names. Dal¡'s life is presented familiarly, drawing in many details of life as an artist during that period in Europe and the relationships among the surrealists. No actual dialogue is included, but conclusions are drawn about Dali's thoughts from historical evidence. Sidebars cover other artists (Miro Eluard, Picasso), styles (Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art), and elements of history (the Spanish Civil War, Fascism and Franco, Communism). The attractive layout includes numerous excellent-quality reproductions of the work of Dali and many of the other artists mentioned in the text, and period photographs. Of particular interest here are the 21 activities that will engage budding artists and encourage them to think and to look at familiar objects in a different way. Requiring no unusual supplies, they might be used by classroom teachers as well. There are rich potentials for jumps from here to history and the "'20s in Europe" art era. A valuable addition to any collection.Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.