Introduction

A Novel Way of Looking at Art

March 2015

Book lovers always seem to have a book with them. In fictional accounts readers find pleasure and escape. Or, readers can live vicariously through the adventures and romances of their favorite characters. But that is not all that fiction can do. Authors spend countless hours researching the time periods, events, and people who appear in their works and because of this many readers are exposed to new cultures, history, and events that they would otherwise have no insight or experience.

This list invites readers into the world of art. Sometimes it is bright and colorful and other times dark and mysterious filled with danger. Whether you are looking for a thrilling mystery, a look into art history, or to introduce the youngest readers in your family to the world of art, these works and many others can be found on the shelves of your local libraries.

Recommended Reads

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett; Brett Helquist (Illustrator)
ISBN: 0439372941
Publication Date: 2004-06-01
When strange and seemingly unrelated events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. (Juvenile)
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
ISBN: 9780763632076
Publication Date: 2007-04-10
After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future. (Young Adult)
Masterpiece by Elise Broach; Kelly Murphy (Illustrator); Patience Brewster (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780805082708
Publication Date: 2008-09-30
After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Juvenile)
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
ISBN: 9781594486241
Publication Date: 2013-01-10
Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural, and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation, if not survival, lies with the other.
The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9780399257131
Publication Date: 2011-10-04
Rather than use the same old colors, a child paints animals and objects in a variety of different hues. Includes biographical information about the German painter Franz Marc, who created unconventional animal paintings in the early 1900s. (Juvenile)
Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman; Harriet Chessman
ISBN: 1583222723
Publication Date: 2001-10-02
The story is told in the absorbing and lyrical voice of Mary Cassatt's sister Lydia, as she poses for five of her sister's most unusual paintings. Ill with Bright's disease and conscious of her approaching death, Lydia contemplates her world with courage, openness, and passion. As she addresses and comes to accept her own position as her sister's model, she asks stirring questions about love and art's capacity to remember.
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
ISBN: 052594527X
Publication Date: 2000-01-01
Seventeen-year-old Griet must work to support her family and becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer, where she gradually attracts the master painter's attention. Johannes and Griet must hide their inspiration of each from from his volatile wife Catharina. The wealthy and trouble-making Master van Ruijven senses the intimacy between the artist and his maid and contrives a commission for Vermeer to paint Griet alone.
Emily's Blue Period by Cathleen Daly; Lisa Brown (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781596434691
Publication Date: 2014-06-17
After her parents get divorced, Emily finds comfort in making and learning about art. (Juvenile)
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
ISBN: 9780812968972
Publication Date: 2004-11-30
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities. But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man.
Starry Night by Isabel Gillies
ISBN: 9780374306755
Publication Date: 2014-09-02
As Wren and her three best friends celebrate the opening of an exhibit curated by her father at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wren finds love with her brother's new friend, Nolan, and the relationship transforms her and her life. (Young Adult)
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone: a Novel by Adele Griffin
ISBN: 9781616953607
Publication Date: 2014-08-12
When a celebrated New York City teenager, known for her subversive street art, mysteriously dies, her life is examined in a series of interviews with her parents, friends, boyfriends, mentors, and critics. (Young Adult)
The Painter by Peter Heller
ISBN: 9780385352093
Publication Date: 2014-05-06
A stunning, savage novel of art and violence, love and grief, The Painter is the story of a man who longs to transcend the shadows in his heart, a man intent on using the losses he has suffered to create a meaningful life.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
ISBN: 0689711816
Publication Date: 1998-04-01
Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself. (Juvenile)
When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden
ISBN: 0811811212
Publication Date: 1998-07-01
Pigasso, a talented pig, and Mootisse, an artistic bull, live across the road from one another, but when conflicts arise they build fences that ultimately become modern art masterpieces. Includes biographies of the real-life artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. (Juvenile)
Katie and the Mona Lisa by James Mayhew (Illustrator)
ISBN: 053130177X
Publication Date: 1999-09-01
At the art museum, while her grandmother naps, Katie steps into the painting of the Mona Lisa and together they have adventures with the characters from four other well-known Renaissance paintings. Includes information about the artists. (Juvenile)
Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay
ISBN: 0689849338
Publication Date: 2002-05-01
After learning that she was adopted, thirteen-year-old Saffron's relationship with her eccentric, artistic family changes, until they help her go back to Italy where she was born to find a special memento of her past. (Juvenile)
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
ISBN: 9780803734968
Publication Date: 2014-09-16
A story of first love and family loss follows the estrangement between daredevil Jude and her loner twin brother, Noah, as a result of a mysterious event that is brought to light by a beautiful, broken boy and a new mentor. (Young Adult)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
ISBN: 9780316055437
Publication Date: 2013-10-22
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland
ISBN: 0670032670
Publication Date: 2004-02-09
A fictional portrait of pioneering artist Emily Carr, whose independence, boldly original artwork, and unconventional approach to life overcame Victorian restrictions to blaze a new path for twentieth-century women artists.
Art and Max by David Wiesner
ISBN: 9780618756636
Publication Date: 2010-10-04
Max wants to be an artist like Arthur, but his first attempt at using a paintbrush sends the two friends on a whirlwind trip through various media, with unexpected consequences. (Juvenile)

Introduction

A Novel Way of Looking at Art

March 2015

Recommended Reads

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