{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}
The series is available on Amazon here.
{I purchased these books myself. All opinions are my own!}
Read on for a detailed REVIEW.
Not being artistically inclined at all, this homeschool mama knew she needed to find a resource that equipped her to teach art history and inspired her to create opportunities for her son to do meaningful art projects. And this series, Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists, does just that in a fun and simple way!
In addition to reviewing the
CALIBER OF CONTENT,
and the
EFFECTIVENESS OF ITS ILLUSTRATIONS,
I will also include information on the
APPROPRIATENESS AS AN ALL-AGES READ ALOUD,
ADAPTABILITY TO ACTIVITIES and the
QUALITY OF THE PHYSICAL BOOK.
And at the end, you’ll find an
EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION from an adult perspective plus an
ENJOYMENT ASSESSMENT from the perspective of a few students!
NAME OF THE SERIES: Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists
AUTHOR: Mike Venezia
PUBLISHER: Children’s Press
CATEGORY: Biographical with a humorous twist
INDIVIDUAL TITLES WITHIN THE SERIES: Cassat, Dali, Da Vinci, Degas, Kahlo, Michelangelo, Monet, O’Keefe, Picasso, Rembrandt, Rivera, Rockwell, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Warhol
LENGTH OF EACH BOOK {approximate}: 40 pages
READING LEVEL: 3rd-4th
PRICE {approximate}: Inexpensive at $6.50-8.00 for the newest, revised editions!
AVAILABILITY: Easy to find on Amazon, eBay, Rainbow Resources, Christian Books.com and more! NOTE: There are two editions within this series. One was printed in 1997 and the newer, updated version was printed in 2014. Some artists can only be found in the older version and the availability {and cost} varies.
WHAT THEY’RE ABOUT: Each book highlights the life of a famous artist in an easy-to-follow biographical format mixed with humorous imaginings from the author.
CALIBER OF CONTENT: This series contains amazing content that is presented in both a factual, biographical way and in a funny, entertaining way. To me, the secret to the success of this series is that those two approaches are done simultaneously but separately so the humor does not detract from the factual content. I would like to remind y’all, though, that these books are about famous artists. Some of which were tortured souls and the author, while not glorifying the sad truth, does not shy away from it. Furthermore, this series contains images of actual art, which as we all know, might contain nude people, depictions of war and other potential disturbing scenes. As with all literature, parents need to look at each book in the series carefully before simply handing it to a child. SCORE 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
EFFECTIVENESS OF ILLUSTRATIONS: These books do a great job of mixing images of each artist’s real artwork with snapshots/illustrations of the artist’s life AND silly cartoon drawings from the author’s perspective. In each book, there are purposeful and effective illustrations for every type of reader! SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
APPROPRIATENESS AS AN ALL AGES READ ALOUD: This series is perfect not only as a read aloud, but as a read aloud for nearly all ages. The topic itself is usually interesting to all ages but because the author has created a factual AND funny way to share each artist’s stories, each book in the series would make a perfect read aloud from Kinder through at least Middle School. SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
ADAPTABILITY TO ACTIVITIES: Using one of these books prior to having kids create an art project based on the artist’s work is seriously one of the most simple and most successful concepts which I have repeated dozens of times. We have made paper mosaics with Matisse, laid on our backs and drawn Bible stories with Michelangelo and painted watercolor ponds with Monet. SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
QUALITY OF THE PHYSICAL BOOK: Some of the books I have are hard-covered and others are paperback. I am not sure if the new, revised versions are all paperback but I suspect that might be the case. Either way, all of the books I have from the series are of high quality with crisp printing, excellent formatting and a secure binding. SCORE: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥
EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION from an adult perspective: Both as a public school teacher and as a homeschool mom, I have used more than a dozen of these books in group settings to introduce the history of each artist and then to recreate a piece of artwork as a follow-up activity. Kids from 6 years old all the way into the teens have not only learned a tremendous amount of info each time but have also thoroughly enjoyed the way the books are styled, laid out and presented. This is a winning series in multiple ways and I highly recommend it to classroom teachers and homeschool moms alike.
ENJOYMENT ASSESSMENT from a student’s perspective: “These books are funny and fun! I never knew boring art history could be so entertaining.” “I really enjoyed how these books took a subject I didn’t think I liked and turned it into something I did!” “I love how we always make something creative after reading one of these books.”
