Great Reading: Bookmark It!

Volume 31, Number 1, October 2003.

Ruth Cox

Artistically Rendered

Love me tender. Lyrics by Elvis Presley and Vera Matson.
HarperCollins, 2003. $15.99. 0-06-027797-1. Musical CD included. Grades K-12.
Five-time recipient of the Northwest Rendezvous of Art Award, Tom Browning beautifully portrays the unconditional love between a father and his daughter as they engage in everyday activities such as skating, reading, picnicking and golfing. Browning’s oil paintings are accompanied by Presley’s well-known lyrics.

Mystic horse. Paul Goble.
HarperCollins, 2003. $17.89. 0-06-029814-6. Grades K-5.
Using a combination of gouache and watercolor, Goble’s detailed paintings bring to vivid life the story of a mystical horse and a Pawnee boy who, with the help of his beloved horse, becomes the Boy Chief when they ride in the enemy’s midst and count coup upon their chief. Goble provides background information based on his extensive research of the Pawnee and discusses their inaccurate depiction as a warlike and brutal people.

Painting the Wind. Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan.
HarperCollins, 2003. $16.89. 0-06-029799-9. Grades 2-6.
The story of a young artist learning his craft from artists who come to his island each summer is beautifully brought to life by Katy Schneider’s oil paintings. She combines a young boy’s amateurish paintings along with examples of work by the artists, who include the painter of flowers, the painter of faces, the still life artist and the landscape artist, who helps the boy realize he has fulfilled his dream – painting the wind in his landscape of bending trees.