Non-Fiction Picture Books - Stories behind the Art

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy.  Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!  I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!  

           Biographies seem to be coming out more and more in picture book form. Some introduce artists and their art, enticing everyone to know more and more.  This particular picture book tells about these brothers, from their growing up, choosing (and not choosing) to make art, finally being in the limelight. No matter their poverty, no matter the austere lives they led, they did art!

           Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan tell this true story of the Giacometti brothers, no matter the challenge, they devoted their lives to each other - first! In the story, they showed the importance of beginning at the beginning, showing the closeness of the brothers all of their lives.

            Alberto, the oldest, began drawing and reading about everything at a very early age. Younger brother Diego was the opposite. Early on, he actually did some illegal things, but soon moved to Paris to be with Alberto. Alberto was still doing art, continued to waver in the "kind" of art. He thought he fit in with the surrealists, but was rejected by them or rejected it. 



            Hadley Cooper's illustrations depict the highs and lows of each of their lives in vibrant and emotional colors. Here are three which show Alberto's struggle, their fleeing Paris when it fell to the Nazis, only to have to return because they couldn't escape, and finally working as a team when their art was becoming known and respected. By then, after years of ups and downs, they produced some incredible works.

           Alberto's tall, spindly sculptures can be found in the collections of museums around the world. You may be familiar with one most famous, titled "The Walking Man". You can find a picture of it here. After Alberto passed away, Diego created some amazing pieces of art himself, quirky pieces of furniture with a few animals taking center stage in those pieces. He too was a sculptor. A brief article with examples of his pieces is here.  

           This wonderful book includes the following in the backmatter:  a timeline, source notes, photographs, and an essay on how to look at a Giacometti sculpture. 

This was a Horn Book best book of the year!