I Spy: An Alphabet in Art

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with A..." Even the very youngest art lovers can spy out the apple in Magritte's Son of Man through the zigzags in de Geest's Portrait of a Child. Interact with twenty-six of the world's greatest paintings in this educational, entertaining, and beautiful pairing of a classic game with timeless art.

Presents objects for the letters of the alphabet through paintings by such artists as Magritte, Picasso, Botticelli, and Vermeer.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with A..." Even the very youngest art lovers can spy out the apple in Magritte's Son of Man through the zigzags in de Geest's Portrait of a Child. Interact with twenty-six of the world's greatest paintings in this educational, entertaining, and beautiful pairing of a classic game with timeless art.

Publishers Weekly

From the simplest of premises, Micklethwait has fashioned a remarkably rich investigation into the pleasures of looking at paintings. In search of an object beginning with a specific letter, the reader's eye roams pictorial worlds ranging from a 15th-century manuscript illumination to a David Hockney poolside. Spotting the clues hidden in abundant Dutch still lifes, vibrant genre scenes or a Goya portrait can be tricky, but the hunt is never dull, thanks to the author's unusually creative choices and their faithful reproduction. Often, more than one object in a painting satisfies the letter requirement, a subtle hint that art may prompt many questions and reward an alert viewer with multiple answers. Micklethwait understands this truth and uses it well; the images she has chosen will linger with children. All ages. (Sept.)

Lucy Micklethwait says, "I began to play 'I Spy' with paintings with my own children when they were very young. Over and over again my children pointed out things which I had never noticed before—an apple that had fallen to the floor, a funny-shaped shoe, an expression on a face. Although we were simply 'looking at pictures,' I was well aware that, by making these paintings accessible, I was enabling my children to build up a store of images in their own minds which must inevitably lead to some interest in fine art." Ms. Micklethwait's books for children include I Spy Shapes in Art; I Spy: An Alphabet in Art; I Spy Two Eyes: Numbers in Art.