cover image Animals in Art

Animals in Art

Gladys Blizzard. Charlesbridge Publishing, $16.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-56566-013-7

The theory that interest in fine art can be kindled by actively engaging children in discussion shapes this series, now on its third volume. From a Lascaux cave painting to a Rauschenberg collage, 12 chronologically ordered paintings are paired with questions that guide viewers in pondering an artist's intentions or identifying elements of form, line, composition, color, etc. For example, ``Would you be afraid to walk among these animals? Why or why not?'' accompanies Edward Hicks's The Peaceable Kingdom . Often dull exercises in tallying similar objects, her questions are sometimes rhetorical, as in the suggested resemblance between Paul Klee's Cat and Bird and a mask, and seem ill-suited to the suggested age range. Supplementary texts--covering biographical details, iconography and, occasionally, style--seem to be aimed at adults rather than children. Unlike the exhibit mounted in I Spy (see above), Blizzard's selection of paintings is insufficiently varied, and her book never rises above the dutiful. Ages 5-10. (Sept.)