Art Encounters S. Series

Art Encounters is a wonderful new fiction series designed to introduce young readers to great painters. This series brings famous works of art to life through thrilling and evocative stories that reflect the individual paintings featured, not unlike The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Each book in the series will focus on the style, techniques, and influences of great painters. Over the course of the book, the cover painting, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, transforms from a nightmarish vision of death into a life-affirming masterpiece. The story alternates between Kahlo's home in Mexico City, Casa Azul, and the journey of a teenage girl and her young brother, lost in the city. At the mystical Casa Azul, everything with a face talks, including Kahlo's pet monkey, her cat, and even the portraits on the wall. And everything has an opinion about how Kahlo should be running her life, especially since it's in shambles after her divorce from Diego Rivera. Guided by her odd friends, she helps the children--and slowly regains her will to live and to create.
This dramatic story offers a vivid re-imagining of the life and work of a woman as well known for her amazing life as for her amazing art.

A Brush with Napoleon

by Laban Carrick Hill

Published 9 January 2007

"Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard", one of the most famous paintings in Western art, is a piece of war propaganda - Napoleon didn't ride a rearing stallion to cross the river on his campaign; he rode a donkey. He relied on the artist Jacques-Louis David to polish his public image. The truth behind the propaganda is revealed in a compelling story of fifteen-year-old Jean, whose idealistic view of the leader comes under fire when he begins working in David's studio. As he battles with Louis, David's cowardly son, it becomes clear that their fates mirror the course of the French Empire. "A Brush with Napoleon" is a dynamic addition to the popular "Art Encounters" series.