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Booklist Reviewers Turn a Phrase
"It's a surprisingly sweet, rollicking tribute to anyone who's
ever needed a fight song to fight back." >>read more
From the Editor
 Great Art Is Kid Stuff
The November 1, 2012, issue of Booklist, featuring our Spotlight on the Arts, is now live on Booklist Online. If you're a print subscriber who has yet to sign up for online access, do it now—it just takes a minute. If you don't yet receive Booklist or Booklist Online, our no-obligation 14-day trial just might whet your appetite for more. (All the content in this issue of REaD ALERT is, of course, yours to enjoy regardless.)
 I'm reluctant to try my hand at trendspotting in the arts—I know a lot more about fiction—but, as I read through our reviews, I did sense a pattern. In the adult books section, reviews of The Art of the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and Dr. Seuss: The Cat behind the Hat suggest that what was once considered kid stuff is now very much worthy of adult consideration (and, of course, we agree). Meanwhile, in books for youth, reviews such as How to Analyze the Films of the Coen Brothers, Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey, and When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky tell us even more emphatically that there are few artists that can't be interpreted for younger audiences.
But don't take my word for it. Browse our reviews of art books past and present, check out our Top 10 Arts Books and Top 10 Arts Books for Youth, and, for a special treat, check out Donna Seaman's Great Reads: Art Forgers and Squandered Talent.
—Keir Graff
kgraff@ala.org
Spotlight on the Arts
  Dr. Seuss: The Cat behind the Hat
By Caroline M. Smith
Everyone who grew up entertained, provoked, and enlightened by Dr. Seuss books will love this big, color-saturated volume covering 70 years of published and private art by the master of smart, loopy fun. Here are examples of Theodor Geisel's clever, now ironic advertising work, including a rambunctious campaign for Flit, an insecticide containing DDT. >>read more
 Top 10 Arts Books
By Donna Seaman
The best art books of the past 12 months embrace music and movies, paintings and photography, telling the stories of artists contemporary and past, and illuminating what it is that makes art transcend time and place. >>read more
 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
By Timothy Egan
Before half its 20 volumes were published, The North American Indian was called the most important book since the King James Bible. When the last emerged, its director and primary researcher and author, self-made master photographer Edward Curtis (1868–1952), was old, broke, and dependent on his daughters. >>read more
 The Manley Arts: Public Art
By Will Manley
A couple of decades ago, it was time to put the finishing touches on a large library project that I had been directing for about five years. Building a building is a slow process filled with many diverse steps: conducting a needs assessment, acquiring a site, developing a financial plan, creating an architectural plan, constructing the building, and putting the cherry on top. I was at the cherry-on-top stage, otherwise known as the city's public-arts requirement. >>read more
 Core Collection: American Artists
By Donna Seaman
Early American art created by those with ties to the Old World emulated European traditions, but a genuine American artistic spirit soon coalesced. The fresh and discerning visions of key artists have subsequently shaped American identity and iconography ever since, from the portraitists of our first president to landscape painters awed by the glory of the wilderness to artists grappling with the shadow side of America's private and societal struggles. The biographies and surveys below chronicle the lives of defining artists and measure the resonance of their work. >>read more
 Society's Child: My Autobiography
By Janis Ian. Read by the author.
So many voices that burst on the musical scene of the 1960s—think Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin—have long been stilled. But Ian, who opened for Hendrix and was befriended by Joplin (who called herself "the other Janis"), lived through the 1960s and remembers those chaotic times. >>read more
 Talking With: Janis Ian
By Ellen Myrick
I recently met with Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter Janis Ian for lunch in Nashville, where she has lived since the late 1980s. She had just completed the recording of her candid memoir, Society's Child: My Autobiography, for Brilliance Audio. Here are a few choice tidbits from our meeting. >>read more
 When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot
By Lauren Stringer
One of the problems with musician biographies for younger kids is that they are usually not familiar with the artists or their sounds. Words and art have to work together to give a sense of the music and be invigorating enough that readers will want to seek it out themselves. That's where this book excels. >>read more
 Top 10 Arts Books for Youth
By Ann Kelley
This year's list of the best arts books for youth—all reviewed in Booklist over the last 12 months—has you covered: dancing, architecture, "outsider art," and, yes, even mime. >>read more
 Want to Be in a Band?
By by Suzzy Roche. Illustrated by Giselle Potter.
Instead of taking the typical here's-how-it's-done route, this inventive picture book uses the concept of forming a band to convey a surprisingly wide-reaching story of sisterly love. The narrator offers amusingly specific instructions to the reader (represented in the story by a ponytailed little girl): "First, you'll need two interesting, smart older sisters who can play guitars and sing." >>read more
 Read-alikes: Making Music
By Daniel Kraus
Picture books about making music (let's break out the pots and pans!) are plentiful. Less so are books that introduce specific musicians to a younger audience. Want to Be in a Band? by Suzzy Roche, a member of the long-standing folk act The Roches, is a good example of how one might introduce the rock 'n' roll spirit to kids. Check out the playlist below for a few more unforgettable ditties. >>read more
Featured Blog: Likely Stories
 Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:36 am
Book Trailer Thursday: We Killed
Posted by: Annie Bostrom
Today's title might have you believing that another week of BTT horror is in store, but don't worry: it's time to laugh again. >>read more
Monday, October 22, 2012 10:01 am
Hostile Questions: Joe Hill
Posted by: Daniel Kraus
 Oh, Joe Hill. Joe, Joe, Joe. Where did things go so wrong for you? First you wrote Heart-Shaped Box. Hearts . . . as in love? Boxes . . . as in candy? Definitely a romance novel, far as I can tell, and yet not a single romance reader has said a durned thing about the prose setting their loins a-tingle. Next came Horns. Pretty sure this was a biography of Bruce Hornsby, and though his honeyed crooning is prized by all sentient beings, I just can't see Daniel Radcliffe as Big Bruce H. in the upcoming movie version. And coming in 2013 is NOS4A2. It's simple when you sound it out: "Nose for Achoo," likely an examination on why sneezes come out of our noses. I'm sorry, the topic just doesn't do much for me. >>read more
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