Art 123

While there are more counting and alphabet and "I Spy" books out there than I could ever possibly come to the end of, I do find that some of these books are deceptively simple and extremely effective to use with children of varying ages. These types of books do not need to be as comprehensive as some of the more ambitious alphabet books, and here I'm think of the series put out by Sleeping Bear Press about the states (and other subjects), but those that can work on different levels for young readers. What works best are books that push beyond the most well-known works and introduce less well-known works while still offering great artists' best achievements. Your fourth-grader certainly knows how to count to twelve, but books that encourage focused looking are always great additions to any undertaking of art appreciation.

An example of this is Stefano Zuffi's Art 123 in which Zuffi presents reproductions of works by artists as diverse as Botticelli ("Primavera") and Hopper ("Nighthawks") and Renoir ("The Luncheon of the Boating Party"), but goes well beyond these three overexposed works. Included in this book is Magritte's "Golconda," an extra page for counting men in hats coming down from the sky (although I question the "coming down" part), and Roy Lichtenstein's "Sunrise," in which the reader is asked to count the rays of the sun. The reproductions are excellent, as anyone might expect from a book put out by Abrams and I found it amusing to look at the way the illustrated hands held up the correct number of fingers on the page facing the reproduction (in the European manner, as you will see), adding just a little more whimsy to the overall design of the book.  I was also happy to see sculpture included (Henry Moore's "King and Queen") since, so often in books of this sort, one only finds paintings. Moore, far more than another famous sculptor such as Rodin, truly has great appeal for children.