Category — Grownup Book Reviews

I just got a great book in my library last week (a big perk of the Day Job: access to marvelous books!) called Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art. I took a little time during my lunch break last week to look through it and I loved what I found: short, inspirational biographies that summarized these artists’ lives as artists. Perfect little snippets of their lives – plus lots and lots of artwork from the artists’ childhoods up to their current projects. And the cool thing is that most of the artwork from the artists’ early days is no better than any other 8 or 9 year olds’ art. The whole book is really inspirational and makes artists and what they do accessible to the average kiddo.

One of my favorite quotations from the book comes from Barry Moser. When he was a kid he went to military academy and didn’t get much encouragement in his desire to become an artist, either at school or at home. But he persisted anyway, and now he has a wonderful, productive life as an artist. Here’s the message he gives to kids (which I’m going to print out and use as a mantra):

So, my young friend, never let anyone tell you you can’t do something. You can. All it takes — and this is a lot — is the desire to do it, the persistence to learn how to do it well, the courage to stand strong when people around you are discouraging your dreams. And perhaps most important of all is being willing to fail when you are trying your hardest — but then to pick up and start all over again.