With good reproductions of paintings and a breezy, conversational text, this book introduces children to art through pictures with children as subjects. Although the dust jacket blurb begins, Fine art reproductions from all time periods and places . . . , in fact the art comes mainly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in North America and Europe, with a few forays back in time through the European tradition and the inclusion of a Chinese scroll and an Egyptian mummy portrait. Richmond comments on each painting in a few paragraphs, including information about how the artist's life and society are reflected in the artwork. The use of the first person is unusual and the personal remarks sometimes seem out of place, but they give the text an informal air; in any case, they are balanced with sound commentary on the artwork under consideration. A good resource for picture persons in the schools. (Reviewed Dec. 15, 1992)

Thirty-nine paintings have been reproduced with substantial text describing each artist's motivations, illuminating stylistic differences, and pointing out interesting details. Often juxtaposing paintings showing children in similar activities, Richmond demonstrates how each artist's personal experiences affect his or her way of seeing. Although good preparation for a museum visit, a horizontal line in the design is intrusive.

Gr 3-6-- Richmond characterizes this book . . . as a miniature museum,'' with a single subject: children. And she does provide a variety of artistic approaches even if her claim to encompass paintings from all over the world includes only 2 non-Western examples. To her credit, she makes internal cross-references, e.g. when discussing a Morisot work she refers to her contemporaries, Cassatt and Monet, and their work. But to her discredit, she too often uses her text to interpret the paintings and thus cut off readers' imaginations. It's as if she doesn't trust her own words when she writes that. . . art is not about words, but about looking. '' Visually the book is attractive. The full-color reproductions are carefully printed on a glossy stock and the couple of hundred words of text per picture are set in a large, easy-to-read typeface in double columns with lots of white space. The reproductions are, with only a couple of exceptions, however, small and more useful for identification than for real appreciation. Nevertheless, if youngsters can ignore the author's interpretations and can feel free to create their own stories from each picture, this collection may help them understand a wide range of artistic presentations. --Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus