cover image Louise Loves Art

Louise Loves Art

Kelly Light. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-224817-6

Louise loves to draw, and her drawings are spread out all over the floor as she explains to readers what she loves about art: “It’s my imagination on the outside,” she says. Meanwhile, her towheaded younger brother—whose name is also Art—shows his admiration for his big sister by using a red crayon and scissors to make a paper pair of red glasses just like hers. Then he grabs her best drawing and snips it into paper dolls. “Art! How could you?” Louise groans. “It’s my drawing... my masterpiece!” She forgives him, though: “Oh, Art, I love it,” she says generously—she very clearly loves both kinds of Art. Louise is full of enthusiasm for her own work, but she also has some good advice: “To be a great artist, you have to notice everything.” Newcomer Light (illustrator of the Elvis and the Underdogs series) is a confident visual storyteller with a gentle sense of comic timing; Louise and Art have the loose, stylized look of vintage comics characters, with similarly easy-to-read expressions. Ages 4–8. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Sept.)