Just Behave, Pablo Picasso! by Jonah Winter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The theatrical voice of the narrator almost made me feel like I was in a movie trailer, or listening to a carnival barker (neither of which was a bad thing). In fact, there were moments where I thought this could easily break into a musical. It had a lot of the pacing and exaggerated feel of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
I have to say I wish the storytelling style and illustration had less of the flash and fame about it, and more of the abstraction that would be more consistent with the paintings that are so difficult for many people to accept. Instead of telling us that many people both love and hate Picasso's work, it would be great if they had 'shown' us how and why.
I was really impressed with Melissa Sweet's work on the River of Words book about Wm Carlos Williams, and how she worked for this consistency with the poet's work. For this book, it makes me wonder whether either the author or the illustrator really understands Picasso's work, or if they just know how to represent it descriptively.
I passed it to Pearl, because she's been enchanted with Picasso because of what they're studying in school. She read through the whole thing in the car, which she doesn't always do when I recommend or bring a picture book.
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