Anyone who’s known me since my blogger days knows that “I’m not sorry, because I’m fabulous,” so is it any wonder that I immediately had to pick up this adorable little book which proclaims that Yayoi Kusama is another woman who refuses to be apologetic?! Now, I may not be one to cover everything in dots (I’m more of a stripes girl), but I’ve been obsessed with Kusama’s dot-covered pumpkins since the first time I set eyes on them - not to mention her sparkle-filled infinity rooms - so I knew that this book was going to be a fun exploration of her unique art. Gilberti uses a simple black and white colour palette (with rare diversions of a neon red) and mimics Kusama’s geometric style of art to create a narrative that tells the story of the artist’s life in adventurous pictorials which take us from her hometown in Japan to New York City, and back again. Dots and the amorphous shapes Kusama is known for are integrated throughout each composition, which keeps the shifting narrative recognizable for even the youngest reader, while also providing appealingly dynamic visuals for adult readers. When Kusama arrives in New York she leaves behind the integrated world she had known in her hometown, Matsumoto, and the illustrations reflect her singularity in the city as she stands alone on the page with her dot-covered suitcase. As she begins creating a new style of art her life begins to slowly fill the page - not just her suitcases are covered in dots, she covers herself, other people, pumpkins, and then she creates the infinity rooms! Dots forever, no apologies! Not satisfied to just portray and imitate Kusama’s art, Gilberti takes care to include notes about her work as a protester and social advocate, before her return to Japan and her ongoing struggle with mental illness. The book may be for children, so these mentions are brief (and some very subtle), but it adds a depth to the book that allows it to finish triumphantly with a message about the healing abilities of art and the infinite love that one can find in the world. ( )

Artist Yayoi Kusama makes art worth talking about, from social happenings where folks are painted with polka dots to mirrored rooms full of painted pumpkins.

This is an interesting picture book biography unlike any other I've read. The whole thing is narrated by Yayoi with "I", "me", "mine," etc. to the point I had to double-check it wasn't actually an autobiography. I feel like this direct approach reaches out to the reader more intimately so that a child reading it might feel as though they are truly connecting with the artist.

Despite what seems like a very colorful art style by the artist being featured, this book is almost entirely printed only in black ink for both text and illustrations. I'm not sure I understand the rationale here, although it did make the myriad of dots appear rather striking and helped some of the 'saucier' illustrations of nude people seem even more subdued. (There's no real full-on nudity, just a drawn line suggesting a butt-crack and some holes in dresses that reveal nothing.)

All in all, this was an intriguing biography about an artist I wasn't familiar with but now want to learn more about. ( )

A family read-aloud binge of picture books for my daughter's 21st birthday!

I only found out about Yayoi Kusama this year by way of a comic book (Kusama: The Graphic Novel by Elisa Macellari), so it only seems fitting to continue my education by way of a children's picture book. I like to think that she might enjoy that.

And this is another fun introduction in Fausto Gilberto's series of artist biographies for children. I like how he tastefully hints at but mostly glosses over Kusama's interest in phallic symbols and body painting nude models. ( )