Boy Who Loved to Draw: Benjamin West

When Benjamin was seven years old, the only thing in the world he wanted to do was draw pictures. Sometimes it got him into trouble—when he “borrowed” Papa’s best quill pen, when he drew the cows instead of milking them for Mama, when he used the cat’s fur for brushes—but it also led him to some surprising adventures.
Here, in lively words and vivid pictures, is the engaging true story of Benjamin West, the farm boy from colonial Pennsylvania who grew up to become the first world-famous American artist.

Recounts the life story of the Pennsylvania artist who began drawing as a boy and eventually became well known on both sides of the Atlantic.

When Benjamin West was seven years old, the only thing in the world he wanted to do was draw pictures. For a time, that got him into a peck of trouble. Papa wasn't pleased when Benjamin "borrowed" his best quill pen. Mama wasn't happy that Benjamin would rather sketch the cows than milk them. And Grimalkin, the family cat, was not keen on being the source for paintbrush hairs! Truth was, there was nothing Benjamin cared more about than art, and that led him to some surprising adventures. Here, in lively easy-to-read words and vivid pictures, is the engaging true story of Benjamin West, the farmboy from colonial Pennsylvania who grew up to become the first world-famous American artist and a friend to Benjamin Franklin and the king of England.

Horn Book

(Primary)
This brief picture-book biography of Benjamin West, "the father of American art," has an informing theme that unifies text and illustration into a seamless whole. That theme is set in the brief prologue, which introduces the large West family and notes that when Benjamin was born in 1738, the last of ten children, the preacher prophesied that "this boy will do great things someday." From that day forward, Brenner tells us, "everyone kept...waiting for the first signs of greatness." They did not have long to wait, for at age seven Benjamin, with no formal lessons, made an accomplished drawing of his sister's baby. Subsequently, he learned to make paint from a member of the friendly Lenape tribe and a paintbrush from a traveler staying at the inn. With admirable ingenuity, he fashioned the latter from the fur of his cat Grimalkin, who was not too enthused about his role as artist's assistant. Eventually, the cat's mangy appearance led to discovery-and to his parents' decision to send him to a "real live artist" for an assessment of his work. That decision changed his life. In the succeeding chapter, "And Then What Happened," the author neatly summarizes West's subsequent career, his education, his success as a portrait painter, his friendship with Benjamin Franklin, and his life as an expatriate in England, where, despite his friendship with George III, he remained loyal to the American cause during the Revolution. The choice of subject, the emphasis on West's early years, and the careful selection of childlike incidents such as the cat's unwilling involvement all make this biography appropriate as a picture-book treatment and appealing for the intended audience. The result is a handsome interpretation, faithful to its subject, lively to read, distinctively colonial in pictorial content, and cast in a well-designed format with simple two-line black borders framing an appropriate typeface and flattened, angular illustrations. m.m.b.

Olivier Dunrea is the creator of beautiful and well-loved children's books. A painter and a sculptor, his work centers around farms, animals, architecture, and folklore. He lives in the tiny village of Narrowsburg, New York, in the Catskill Mountains.