Art-Making! Radiant Child by Javaka Steptoe

SOMEWHERE IN BROOKLYN BETWEEN HEARTS THAT THUMP, DOUBLE DUTCH, AND HOPSCOTCH...

A LITTLE BOY DREAMS OF BEING A FAMOUS ARTIST.

In his 2017 Caldecott Award-winning Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature. Commended) (Little, Brown and Company) Jataka Steptoe portrays Jean Michel Basquiat as a born artist, as a preschooler sitting inside his apartment surrounded by pencils, drawing and drawing, while his mother Mathilde looks on proudly. Jean Michel's mom supported her son's art by drawing along with him, while the sounds of his father's favorite jazz played behind them. His art was somewhat strange, but his mom pronounced it beautiful.

Of course, lots of mothers say that about their children's first art, but Mathilde Basquiat took her son to the many museums in New York and gave him a thick copy of Grey's Anatomy to help him picture the human body. But young Jean Michel's drawings bore no trace of the classic painting style of the Old Masters or the careful draftsmanship of the anatomy textbook, but his mother understood what he was trying to do.

FROM HER HE LEARNS THAT ART IS NOT JUST IN THE PICTURE BOOKS SHE READS TO HIM, OR IN THE THEATERS AND MUSEUMS THEY VISIT.

ART IS ... HOW THE MESSY PATCHWORK OF THE CITY CREATES NEW MEANING FOR ORDINARY THINGS.

In his brief and meteoric career, Jean Michel Basquiat is credited with bringing street art from a curious novelty to recognition as a vibrant and significant art form. Author Jataka Steptoe, son of award-winning author-illustrator John Steptoe, (cf. his Caldecott-winning version of the Cinderella story, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale (Picture Puffin), is no stranger to art and art history himself and brings the electric, eccentric, and brilliant work of Basquiat to the picture book world in a fine piece of storytelling; while illustrator Steptoe makes use of various styles of painting and layered materials, collaged paper and cardboard, using boards as well as canvas to catch the spirit of the young artist who did it his way. "Steptoe interprets Basquiat's style instead of inserting particular works. Vibrant colors and personal symbols channel the 'sloppy, ugly, and sometimes weird, but somehow beautiful' paintings, incorporating meticulously attributed collage elements and capturing the artist's energy and mystery," says Kirkus in their starred review.