May 16, 2016
Stabler recounts the early lives of more than a dozen artists including Andy Warhol, Beatrix Potter, Yoko Ono, Keith Haring, and Vincent van Gogh in this companion to Kid Presidents and Kid Athletes. Throughout, he draws loose connections between the subjects’ childhood experiences, whether positive or negative, and their artistic development. Ted Geisel “warned about the dangers of discrimination” in books like The Sneetches in part because of anti-German prejudice he faced during WWII; Frida Kahlo’s time spent recovering from illness and injury led her to begin creating self-portraits. Memorably weird childhood moments—Jackson Pollock accidentally had part of a finger chopped off and then eaten by a rooster—are likely to stick with readers, as will Horner’s impish cartoons. Ages 9–12.