A Portrait in Poems
A Portrait in Poems

A Portrait in Poems

Written by Evie Robillard & illustrated by Rachel Katstaller
Hardcover
$17.99
$16.97
6 - 9
Reading age
48
Page count
810L
Lexile measure
Mar 3, 2020
Publication date

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What's This Book About

Publisher Summary

Here’s an insider’s tour of the fascinating lives of Gertrude Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas, amusingly addressed directly to the reader (“The next time you go to Paris …”). It explores the couple’s art collection, their famous writer and artist friends and even their dog, Basket. It also describes how Gertrude’s book The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was not about Alice, but was more about Gertrude herself! A celebration of creativity and the creative process, this original and very readable picture book biography champions two women who dared to live unconventional lives. In playful free verse, author Evie Robillard offers a unique introduction to one of the most influential figures of twentieth-century art and literature. It includes twelve child-friendly quotations from Stein’s work, such as: “It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.” Illustrator Rachel Katstaller’s fun yet detailed art delightfully evokes the time and place of the text. Touching on literature, history, writing and the visual arts, this biography offers loads of direct curriculum applications. Back matter includes a time line, “snapshots,” sources and an author’s note with further background.

What Should I Know As a Parent

Families are unique and have different expectations for the books they choose to read. The following are concepts included in this book that some parents may wish to seek out or avoid.

Note that this list is not exhaustive and there may be concepts in this book that are not included or have been insufficiently or incorrectly detailed here.

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The Creatives Behind the Book

    Author
    Evie Robillard

    Evie Robillard is a former children’s librarian and writing teacher. She writes for both adults and children. She’s the mother of two grown sons and makes her home in Madison, Wisconsin.Rachel Katstaller is a children’s book illustrator from El Salvador, a tiny country in the tropics of Central America. She now lives and works in a studio perched in the Austrian Alps, where she daydreams about eating croissants in Paris. Her cat, Hemingway, was named after a famous writer who was once mentored by Gertrude Stein.

    Illustrator
    Rachel Katstaller

    Rachel Katstaller is an illustrator and strategic designer from tiny tropical El Salvador. She graduated with honors as a strategic designer from the Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera in 2013, and took up the Summer Residency in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the summer of 2014. Since then, Rachel has relocated to the Alps along with her cat, Hemingway.

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Book Details

ISBN
9781525300561
Publication Date
March 3, 2020
Publisher
Kids Can Press
Original Publication Date
March 3, 2020
Page Count
48
Audience
Picture
Reading Age
6 - 9 years
Lexile® Level
810L
Est. Fountas & Pinnell Level
~S
Est. ATOS® Book Level
~5.2

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Core Score - 40%

Still needs the basics.

Depth Score - 31%

Just the barebones.

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