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Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter

Reviews, etc.

American Library Association's "Booklist": "With large, crisply reproduced, color artwork on nearly every page, this picture-book biography of American Impressionist Mary Cassatt will appeal to a broad age-range of readers. The streamlined text, which introduces basic facts about Cassatt's life and challenging concepts about her artwork, uses a clear simplicity that will make this a read-aloud option for young, preliterate children---although adults will need to supply definitions for a few references, such as Old Masters. In just a few sentences, Harris explains why Cassatt's work was so original and how her celebrated career carved a new place in the art world. Harris also includes personal details that will draw children back into the art talk: Cassatt loved horses, for example, and her friends were fond of her homemade caramel candy. Archival photos, including a moving image of Cassatt at the end of her long life, complete this welcome introduction to a painter who, despite her historical prominence, is the subject of surprisingly few books for youth." Gillian Engberg

The Bloomsbury Review: "Mary Cassatt is illustrated with good reproductions of paintings by Cassatt and other artists of the mid- and late 19th century. Her biography is told as something of an adventure for new readers, with the moral of following your dreams...explores history and social context in an engaging manner that will connect readers---and their parents---to earlier times." H. Berry

ForeWord Magazine: "...Lois V. Harris's Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter vividly renders the challenges faced by a nineteenth-century woman who 'dreamed of becoming a famous painter and earning her own money.' A feminist and barrier-breaker, Cassatt 'stood for freedom in the arts more than any other artist of her time.' This book, replete with Cassatt's exquisite work, will inspire budding artists." Elizabeth Breau

Library Media Connection: "...illustrations are well done reproductions and give the book a lot of flavor and pizzazz. Readers will definitely be able to grasp the concept of Impressionism and get an understanding of the style. It is attractive, clear, and useful to young students...solid choice for collections that need some new biographical material, especially on women." Melinda Miller-Widrick

Children's Literature: "Words, effectively sparse in this biography of Mary Cassatt, match photographs and reproductions of paintings by her and her contemporaries to carry the reader through major events in her life...Without preaching, Harris notes the impossibility of women in that era combining family and career and, although Cassatt often painted children, she was childless. Through both words and art, this biography beautifully pictures the life of a talented and courageous woman who achieved what few women in the early years of the twentieth century dared even to dream. Highly recommended." Mary Bowman-Kruhm, Ph.D.

"Pelican has visions of sugar plums with...Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter by Lois Harris, a biography;" Publishers Weekly

"The quality of the reproductions is good and the examples of Cassatt and other impressionist painters are outstanding. This book by Washington State author Lois Harris is a great addition to an elementary school library collection." South Sound Book Review Council, Chris Wolfe, Librarian