Sky Blue

School Library Journal

Gr 2-6 --This wonderful book does everything a good art appreciation book should do. It leads the eye through the image and guides readers to consider not only the artist's intent in his work, but also their own own personal responses. The focus shifts back and forth, starting with a small circular cut-out on a full page of white, framing selected dots of color against a blue background. It then moves back to a larger circle that shows fragments of amorphic forms accompanied by a random list of words. (This book will send readers to their dictionaries as well as to their local art galleries.) A slightly larger circle reveals the complete forms. The next series of pages slashes the painting into diagonal segments and invites readers to manipulate the flaps, revealing not only the variety of forms but also the ways in which they are balanced in the paintings. Then the individual forms are isolated, while the poetic text again suggests images, demonstrating the vitality of the shapes Kandinsky explored by showing them both as brilliantly colored and patterned objects and white negative spaces floating on a field of blue. Finally the entire painting is shown with all the images drained of color. The final two pages tell a little about the artist. Full of ideas, the text subtly points out the design elements that Kandinsky used, yet leaves ample room for viewers to play with the painting by showing what would happen if the images were used in other ways. A book that's sure to be welcomed by art educators and children alike. --Eleanor K. MacDonald, Beverly Hills Public Library