There seems too be so much written about the famous artist, Picasso and so much of it is in picture book format and accessible to young children. For this reason, I am always happy when a class in the Prep school choose to do an artist study on Picasso. The books start at the board book level with Painting With Picasso by Julie Merberg and Picasso For Kids by Margaret Hyde. Then there are picture story books such as Laurence Anholt's Picasso and the Girl With the Ponytail, P.I.Maltbie's Picasso and Minou, Nina Laden's When Pigasso Met Mootisse and Paris in the Spring With Picasso by Jean Yolleck.
And amongst the many informative non-fiction titles these four stand out. There is the biographical The Boy Who Bit Picasso by Antony Penrose, My Little Picasso by Marie Sellier and the Adventures in Art title, A Day With Picasso by Susanne Pfleger, but the not-to-be-missed-by -anyone book is Alain Serres' And Picasso Painted Guernica. While the young children I teach see the absolute magnificence and horror of the painting, older children can follow the text and put the painting in a context and adults can revisit and learn more about the painting and the complex political events surrounding it. There is so much to contemplate here and French children's writer, Serres, whose birthday was on 21st October (1956) has produced a truly beautiful book, perfect for all audiences despite the context of the painting.
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