Radiant child : the story of young artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

Title:

Author:

Steptoe, Javaka, 1971- author, artist.

Summary:

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be beautiful.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume unpaged : color illustrations ; 28 cm

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader 4.7.

Reading Counts! 9.4.

Accelerated Reader AR LG 4.7 0.5 183793.

Personal Subject:

Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 1960-1988-Biography-Juvenile literature.

Subject Term:

African American artists -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

African American painters -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

African American art -- Juvenile literature.

Artists -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Publisher:

Little, Brown and Company,

Publication Date:

2016

ISBN:

9780316213882

Publication Information:

New York ; Boston : Little, Brown and Company, [2016]

Award Note:

Caldecott Medal Winner, 2017.

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, 2017.

Call Number:

J 920 BASQUIA

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode

33607003220491

Collection

Juvenile Nonfiction

Call Number

920 BASQUIA

Status

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Item Holds

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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Somewhere in Brooklyn, a little boy dreams of being a famous artist, not knowing that one day he would make himself a king.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. However, before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games, in the words that we speak and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own style introduces young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean - and definitely not inside the lines - to be beautiful.

Author Notes

Javaka Steptoe received a bachelor of fine arts degree from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He is an artist, designer, and illustrator. His debut work, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. His other books include Do You Know What I'll Do? written by Charlotte Zolotow, A Pocketful of Poems written by Nikki Grimes, Rain Play written by Cynthia Cotton, Amiri and Odette: A Love Story written by Walter Dean Myers, and Hot Day on Abbott Avenue written by Karen English, which received the 2005 Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Steptoe is the author and illustrator of The Jones Family Express and Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, which received the 2017 Randolph Caldecott Medal.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 1-5-A visually stunning picture book biography about modern art phenomenon Jean-Michel Basquiat. Coretta Scott King Award-winner Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork reflect the Haitian Puerto Rican artist's collage-style paintings that rocketed him to fame in the 1980s. Back matter and an introduction to symbolism in Basquiat's work help readers appreciate the layers of Black identity and Yoruba influences at play in Steptoe's illustrations. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this visually arresting and vibrantly narrated biography, Steptoe (In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall) charts the childhood of incandescent, ill-fated artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). Although the book includes no work by Basquiat himself, Steptoe emulates 1980s street art by layering paint, paper scraps, paint tubes, and photos on found-wood panels. The artist, Steptoe writes, learned to see art in the "messy patchwork of the city," the "street games of little children," and the "terrible blues" of growing up. Basquiat's early influences include his Puerto Rican mother, Matilde, who encourages him with museum visits and with the textbook Gray's Anatomy. Poetry and his Haitian father's jazz records fuel his imagination, too: "His drawings are not neat or clean, nor does he color inside the lines." Basquiat's radiance was suffused with trauma, and Steptoe alludes to Matilde's mental illness and Basquiat's teenage strife ("His mother's mind is not well, and the family breaks"). Passing references to Warhol, Haring, graffiti, and Basquiat's heroin overdose appear in the afterword: "Basquiat lived an exhilarating life, but... he struggled with a drug addiction until his death." Overall, Steptoe focuses on Basquiat's meteoric rise, and readers see the artist smiling as he walks on the gritty Lower East Side. Collaged photographs picture a crowded gallery, and Steptoe concludes in the present tense: "He is now a famous artist!" Steptoe downplays tragic elements, instead celebrating Basquiat's irreverence and brilliance. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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