Many children are familiar with the books Cassie’s Word Quilt and Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, but she is more than a children’s book author and illustrator. This biography of Faith Ringgold allows the reader to get to know more about this influential African American artist.
Summary: Faith Ringgold, by Mike Venezia, is one of thirty-nine books in the series, Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists by Children’s Press. Some of the other artists written about include Da Vinci, Monet, Picasso, and Andy Warhol. In my opinion, having Faith Ringgold’s name on this list of great artists is quite an honor. The biography of Faith Ringgold begins with when and where she was born. Because she grew up in a time when there was a lot of discrimination, she wanted to make sure that African American artists were recognized for their contribution to the art world. The book describes the mediums she is best known for. Because storytelling and quilting had such an influence on her life, she began telling stories through her quilts. Faith Ringgold won the Caldecott Honor as well as the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for her book, Tar Beach, with began with a quilt she made. The book describes her childhood and the people who influenced her, her schooling, and her personal life as an adult. Photographs, drawings, and her art work are also featured throughout the book.
Qualitative Analysis: The biography of Faith Ringgold is a wonderful book in the series about different artists. According to the biography on the back cover of the book about the author of this book, Mike Venezia, a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, “feels the best way to introduce children to great art and artists is by combining humor with history to make learning fun.” The cover of the book has brightly painted brush strokes with a white box with the title and acrylic on canvas painting by Faith Ringgold. Throughout the book, the text is a large black font on a white background, which is easy for young children to read. The illustrations in the book are varied, ranging from color photographs and black and white photographs of Faith Ringgold and the people that influenced her, photos of the different pieces of artwork she has produced, and humorous comic-like drawings that relate to the text on the page. Each photo and piece of artwork is well labelled. The artwork pieces include the title, the medium used, whose collection it is a part of, and who photographed it. Each page is numbered in the lower outside corner of the page. In my opinion, this book falls short, in that there are no features included that would make it a great nonfiction text. There is no table of contents, glossary, or index included. These features would help a student who is learning how to conduct research in informational texts.
Genre and/or Subject Area: Biography, Nonfiction
Age or Interest Level: 6-10 years, Grades K-3
Accelerated Reader RL: 5.3
Series Information: Getting To Know The World’s Greatest Artists
Personal thoughts: Although I felt the book fell short in offering the research tools commonly found in a nonfiction text, I still feel this is a great way to introduce early elementary students to the great artists. In the past, our art teachers have used these books in their classes.
Bibliographic Information: Venezia, M. (2008), Faith Ringgold, New York: Children’s Press
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