Reviews

Grandma in Blue with Red Hat by Harry Bliss, Scott Menchin

pwbalto's review against another edition

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4.0

"Why do you think this in the museum?" asks Ms. Montebello as she shepherds her 'little Picassos' through the Metropolitan. The art students all have different answers as they look at art that includes a Monet, a Pollock, a Van Gogh, but also a Benin bronze and a Chinese landscape.

Books about art for kids FREQUENTLY only acknowledge the Western tradition, so including these two pieces makes this book significantly more inclusive than most. Also the kid in the book reads about Georgia O'Keeffe, so there you go, one female artist. Actually, THE female artist - if you read as many books about art for kids as I do you will see that the girls are represented by Georgia, Frida, or mmmaybe Mary Cassatt.

Aside from this one high-horse issue of mine, this is a terrific book. It addresses concept as well as process, acknowledging the role of contemplation and inspiration in creating art.

AND - Grandma has a few books scattered by her chair, and one of them is "AARP Comics" with the word "CRUMB" prominent on the cover. Now THAT's funny, folks.

yapha's review against another edition

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4.0

Fun introduction to art and art museums, focusing on the question "What is art?" Grades K-2.

libraryrobin's review against another edition

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4.0

An excellent story of the accessibility and connectivity of art to kids. Great to read before a trip to a gallery.

wordnerd153's review against another edition

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3.0

Sweet celebration of art and grandmas.

maidmarianlib's review

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2.0

Solid book about the concept of what is art and how we can make and interpret our own art, but the art the boy makes seems very confiscated for one his age with little "instruction" and the time that passes seems like to short for him to create all that art.

kellyt_abc's review against another edition

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5.0

A heartwarming, thoughtful story with a fun variety of illustrations.

chachacenteno's review against another edition

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5.0

Absolutely adorable!

dewey7962's review against another edition

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5.0

Alright, I wasn't sure about this one when I first started reading, but it got me...this is super cute. It's a lot of reading for a younger group, but I think this would be good for a preschool storytime on grandparents, and then as a craft you could have them create "portraits" of their grandparents.

libscote's review against another edition

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4.0

A cute story about a boy who loves art and briefly considers donating his grandmother to the museum.
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