Note: I received a digital review copy from the publisher through NetGalley. ( )

Vegara's Georgia O'Keeffe focuses on the life of one of America's most beloved artists. From a young age, O'Keefe was interested in art. She would wander through nature with her sketchbook rather than playing with other kids. (Sounds like a devoted introvert). As she grew older, she turned to painting, continuing to focus on landscapes. The end of the book contains a more detailed look at O'Keefe's life, using language suited for much older readers. Full of quirky art, these books are sure to inspire young readers to believe in themselves and their dreams. I read this with my cubs. This series is awesome! Highly recommended!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )

New in the Little People, Big Dreams series, discover the incredible life of Georgia O'Keeffe. The text and illustrations show Georgia as a child standing apart from her six siblings in childhood, not running and playing, but observing the beauty of nature. The author, Isabel Sanchez Vegara’s makes the point that one of O’Keeffe’s objectives as an artist was to make people notice the little things that they might be too busy to notice otherwise. This is a child friendly biography that shows a young woman striving to achieve her dream. My biggest disappointment was that none of her artwork was shown or depicted in the book, not even at the back as an appendix. I did however, immediately go online and find websites containing many of her beautiful works of art. This book could be used to teach young children how to write a biography, show that it is important to have a dream and strive to achieve it as well as to introduce this artist and her works, imparting just enough information to get someone curious to investigate further. A good book for a school library. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via netgalley. ( )

I really like this series. It introduces kids to famous women in history that they do not normally hear at in school until much later, if at all. This book focuses on Georgia O’Keefe, her life and her painting. Overall it's a great book, but I wish, when this series talked about authors, that in the back, they had at least one copy of the artists work so that kids can begin to learn to match artwork with its artist. ( )

This is a picture book biography of Georgia O’Keeffe that hits on some of the key points of the iconic American artist’s life. The text and illustrations suggest that Georgia stood apart from her six siblings in childhood, didn’t romp and play games with them, but was instead off on her own observing nature. Isabel Sanchez Vegara’s text also appropriately makes the point that one of O’Keeffe’s objectives as an artist was to make people attend to things—like tiny flowers—that they were otherwise too busy to notice.

Generally, this is a pretty substandard picture book. I loathed seeing O’Keeffe as little more than a cartoon stick figure with a big head and one mouse-like ear (usually the right) sticking out between curtains of loose black hair. Plenty of easels, paint brushes, and paint tubes are shown, but the illustrator, Erica Salcedo, plays it too safe and steers clear of trying to depict any of Georgia’s work. At one point, readers are told that people who attended a first showing of O’Keeffe’s art were puzzled by it, but there is no information (visual or textual) as to why.

In the end, I was rather stunned that such an iconic and eccentric figure should be presented to children in such a bland manner. There are so many missed opportunities. The most notable is the failure to emphasize the boldness of Georgia’s announcement at age 12 that she intended to become an artist. That a girl should dream of making a living as a painter in an art world dominated by men was quite something, and it ought to have been highlighted. O’Keeffe’s individuality and fierce independence were not given the attention they deserved either.

I was not merely unimpressed by this book; I was actually annoyed by it. O’Keeffe herself didn’t have much use for biography. She seldom spoke about the events of her life and felt that her work was the important thing. The fact that young readers can’t even see any of that work in this book is very unfortunate.

Not recommended. ( )