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Art

Niko Draws a Feeling

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Niko Draws a Feeling by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Simone Shin
Who it’s for: Kids
Format: eBook

Niko carries his paper and colored pencils everywhere he goes, in case he is inspired to make a picture. He loves to draw, but Niko doesn’t draw the things he sees. Instead, he draws the way they make him feel. His parents, teacher, and friends don’t seem to understand his pictures. When Niko draws the way the sun feels warm on his face, they can’t understand why they don’t see the sun.

Niko draws a picture of himself and how he feels, but he doesn’t share it with anyone. Until one day, a new family with a girl Niko’s age moves in next door. Has Niko finally found someone who understands?

Niko Draws a Feeling shows children that art can be representative. It doesn’t always reflect actual things we can see. Sometimes it reflects how the artist feels. And as viewers of art, we all experience it differently as well. The illustrations in the book encourage children to think about what they see when they look at Niko’s pictures.

This title is part of OverDrive’s Always Available collection. The eBook is available with no wait on OverDrive/Libby for everyone with a library card!

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

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Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Format: Book
Who it’s for:  Adults

Chloe Brown lives with chronic pain, an invisible disease that people don’t understand.  After almost getting hit by a car, she decides she needs to cross some things off her bucket list and live her best life.  She starts by moving out of her parents’ house and into an apartment.  She soon finds that she can cross a few other things off her list by getting to know her new neighbor and handyman, Red.

Red is tattooed, drives a motorcycle and is too handsome for his own good.  Chloe enjoys spying on him while he paints in his apartment.  This crosses off “do something bad” from her bucket list.  Soon Chloe and Red become friends and he begins helping her rebel a little.  She learns that there is a lot more to this bad boy than she imagined.  And, he learns to understand what it is like to be in pain constantly.

This was a cute romance that was surprisingly meaningful.  Chloe and Red are both living with their own issues and find a way to overcome them and in the process find romance.  If you enjoy reading authors Helen Hoang, Katherine Center and Christina Lauren, you will like this author too!

Find it in the catalog

Drawn Together

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Drawn Together by Minh Lé
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Kids

Who says art is optional?!! This wonderful story grabbed my heart on the first read. Drawn Together is an awesome book about the power of art, and its ability to bring all kinds of people together.

A boy is dropped off, much against his will, to visit with his non-English-speaking grandpa. Without words the distance between them couldn’t be wider! What will they do all day, when neither can understand or communicate with the other? They try television (nope), sharing a lunch (umm, no). Eventually the boy gives up and goes to get his sketchpad and markers to pass the time. Suddenly Grandpa reappears- with HIS sketchpad and brushes! As they begin to draw together, pictures without words let them see each other as they are for the first time, and they create adventures and worlds to express themselves that build a bridge to love and understanding.

Find it in the catalog 

 

The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell

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The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell by Candace Fleming
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Kids

Is your little a collector of things?  Do you love colors, shapes, textures? Then The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell is your book, and Joseph Cornell will be your inspiration! Before he was an artist and a filmmaker, Joseph Cornell was first a collector. From a young age he added any object to his collection that intrigued him-and everything intrigued him! His parents brought little bits and trinkets home to him as well, and as his collection grew he would give shows of his “Relic Museum” in the barn to his family. When he grew up, he began using his collection of found objects to make amazing collages and shadowboxes. Joseph never trained as an artist, but his work eventually made its way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York! A fascinating story of an unusual boy and his unusual art, with biographical information and a short bibliography at the very end.

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The Paris Secret

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The Paris Secret by Karen Swan
Format:  Digital Audiobook
Who it’s for:  Adults

Flora Sykes, an art dealer, is in the middle of a family crisis when she is suddenly called to Paris to help assess the value of some art found in an abandoned apartment.  When she arrives, she discovers that the apartment has not been touched since World War II and is full of paintings including a Renoir.  Flora can’t help but question why the apartment and everything in it were left untouched for so long.  In order for the art to be sold, they must find the provenance.  How did the Vermeil family end up with the art?  All roads lead to the Nazis.  Scandal ensues.

Meanwhile Flora’s brother is in trouble and her family is dealing with its own scandal.  And, Flora is drawn to elusive Xavier Vermeil.

Romance, intrigue, history, art and the fabulous City of Light, Paris.  What more could you want?

Find it on hoopla digital