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These books by Black creators explore subjects ranging from activism to the importance of family traditions. Learn more about the Black experience through the eyes of these creators.
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{"id":6901063024699,"title":"Where Are You, Agnes?","handle":"where-are-you-agnes","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin was born on the Canadian prairies in the early twentieth century. In this imagining of her childhood from acclaimed author Tessa McWatt, Agnes spends her days surrounded by wheat fields, where her grandfather encourages her to draw what she sees and feels around her: the straight horizon, the feeling of the sun, the movement of birds’ wings and the shapes she sees in the wheat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne day, Agnes’s family moves to a house in a big city. The straight horizon and wheat fields are gone, but Agnes continues to draw what she sees and feels around her. No one except her grandfather understands what she is trying to capture — not her mother, who asks, “Where are you, Agnes?” when she sees her daughter engrossed in her drawing; nor her siblings, who think her art is ugly. Still, Agnes keeps trying to capture what she sees inside her mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin grew up to become a famous abstract expressionist artist. Tessa McWatt has written a beautiful story of Agnes’s childhood and how it might have shaped her adult work. Zuzanna Celej’s watercolors adeptly capture Agnes’s world, including hints of the grid paintings that she was later known for, against the backdrop of prairie and city landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes an author’s note with more information about Agnes Martin’s life and the inspiration behind this story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKey Text Features\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nauthor's note\u003cbr\u003e\nart history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7\u003cbr\u003e\nUse information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-06-29T17:47:20-04:00","created_at":"2022-06-29T17:30:21-04:00","vendor":"Groundwood Books Ltd","type":"","tags":["age range 4 - 0","Black Voices","By (author) McWatt Tessa","CC Literature - Grade 3","CC Literature - Grade 4","CC Literature - Grade 6","CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7","Childrens Starred Reviews","Fountas \u0026 Pinnell Text Level Gradient O","Groundwood Books","Guided Reading Level O","Illustrated by Celej Zuzanna","Picture Books","pub date: 2020-05-01"],"price":1695,"price_min":1695,"price_max":1895,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":40504915263547,"title":"hardcover jacket","option1":"hardcover jacket","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781773061405","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Where Are You, Agnes? - hardcover jacket","public_title":"hardcover jacket","options":["hardcover jacket"],"price":1895,"weight":499,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":"shopify","barcode":"9781773061405","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40504916017211,"title":"EPUB, fixed","option1":"EPUB, fixed","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781773061412","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Where Are You, Agnes? - EPUB, fixed","public_title":"EPUB, fixed","options":["EPUB, fixed"],"price":1695,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781773061412","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40504916312123,"title":"Kindle, Fixed Layout","option1":"Kindle, Fixed Layout","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781773064000","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Where Are You, Agnes? - Kindle, Fixed Layout","public_title":"Kindle, Fixed Layout","options":["Kindle, Fixed Layout"],"price":1695,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781773064000","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_131eac22-51d2-4194-92f2-f8d7fa7c8258.jpg?v=1660457520","\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_45877718-05d2-40af-9523-86bf0d2f9846.jpg?v=1656538824","\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_fb37c8d6-5fc2-47ed-b9a3-8332a3b3ee9e.jpg?v=1656538826","\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_407030fc-5517-4499-832d-38448803ca73.jpg?v=1656538828"],"featured_image":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_131eac22-51d2-4194-92f2-f8d7fa7c8258.jpg?v=1660457520","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":"Yellow and green rows of grass grow against a beige background. A clothing line is strung across with white sheets and clothes hanging on it. A girl with light skin tone and brown hair stands in front of a sheet with a palette and paint brush. She paints blue stripes down the items on the clothing line. Text: Where are You, Agnes? Tessa McWatt. Illustrated by Zuzanna Celej.","id":22513103929403,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.185,"height":1600,"width":1896,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_131eac22-51d2-4194-92f2-f8d7fa7c8258.jpg?v=1660457520"},"aspect_ratio":1.185,"height":1600,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_131eac22-51d2-4194-92f2-f8d7fa7c8258.jpg?v=1660457520","width":1896},{"alt":"A field has grass in shades of gold with many dandelions. Beyond the field are trees in a clearing with birds flying above. A girl lies down on her stomach in the field. She rests her chin in her hand while holding a pencil over a piece of paper. She has one foot in the air. Text: Every morning she watched the birds come and go. And she drew the feeling of the sun and the movement of wings.","id":22296657494075,"position":2,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"width":500,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_45877718-05d2-40af-9523-86bf0d2f9846.jpg?v=1656538824"},"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_45877718-05d2-40af-9523-86bf0d2f9846.jpg?v=1656538824","width":500},{"alt":"This image is a double page spread. To the left, a girl is at a chalkboard. She spells out “A g n” in cursive. To the left, she looks at an old man. Their faces are eye to eye. The name Agnes is above them. Text says that Agnes wrote her name in cursive at school. The next day she was sad and wondered why things have to disappear. She asked her grandfather and he asked if he could think about it more. She didn't want to bother him anymore because he looked pale.","id":22296657887291,"position":3,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"width":500,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_fb37c8d6-5fc2-47ed-b9a3-8332a3b3ee9e.jpg?v=1656538826"},"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_fb37c8d6-5fc2-47ed-b9a3-8332a3b3ee9e.jpg?v=1656538826","width":500},{"alt":"A park has a swing set. It has trees with few leaves. A girl sits beneath a tree with papers and a pencil. Other children walk hand in hand. A child is on the swings. The silhouette of a woman with a baby carriage is in the background. Text: It had been a long time since Agnes had felt the rainbow. She wanted the feeling again, so she went to the park with all her colors. “That’s ugly,” her brother said. So Agnes painted the tree again. “That’s a bit ugly,” her sister said. And she painted again. And again.","id":22296658018363,"position":4,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"width":500,"src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_407030fc-5517-4499-832d-38448803ca73.jpg?v=1656538828"},"aspect_ratio":2.381,"height":210,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/houseofanansi.com\/cdn\/shop\/products\/BNCImageAPI_407030fc-5517-4499-832d-38448803ca73.jpg?v=1656538828","width":500}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin was born on the Canadian prairies in the early twentieth century. In this imagining of her childhood from acclaimed author Tessa McWatt, Agnes spends her days surrounded by wheat fields, where her grandfather encourages her to draw what she sees and feels around her: the straight horizon, the feeling of the sun, the movement of birds’ wings and the shapes she sees in the wheat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne day, Agnes’s family moves to a house in a big city. The straight horizon and wheat fields are gone, but Agnes continues to draw what she sees and feels around her. No one except her grandfather understands what she is trying to capture — not her mother, who asks, “Where are you, Agnes?” when she sees her daughter engrossed in her drawing; nor her siblings, who think her art is ugly. Still, Agnes keeps trying to capture what she sees inside her mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin grew up to become a famous abstract expressionist artist. Tessa McWatt has written a beautiful story of Agnes’s childhood and how it might have shaped her adult work. Zuzanna Celej’s watercolors adeptly capture Agnes’s world, including hints of the grid paintings that she was later known for, against the backdrop of prairie and city landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes an author’s note with more information about Agnes Martin’s life and the inspiration behind this story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKey Text Features\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nauthor's note\u003cbr\u003e\nart history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7\u003cbr\u003e\nUse information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.\u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_0":"9781554983865","AlsoRecommendedISBN_1":"9781554984466","AlsoRecommendedISBN_3":"9781773062600","AudienceRangePrecision_1_0":"03","AudienceRangePrecision_1_1":"03","AudienceRangePrecision_1_2":"03","AudienceRangeQualifier_0":"11","AudienceRangeQualifier_1":"17","AudienceRangeQualifier_2":"26","AudienceRangeValue_1_0":"K","AudienceRangeValue_1_1":"4","AudienceRangeValue_1_2":"K","BASICMainSubject":"JUV003000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"JUVENILE FICTION \/ Art","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTESSA MCWATT\u003c\/strong\u003e is an acclaimed author whose work includes novels for adults and young people. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards and the OCM Bocas Prize. Most recently, she published the novel \u003cem\u003eHigher Ed\u003c\/em\u003e and co-edited \u003cem\u003eLuminous Ink: Writers on Writing in Canada\u003c\/em\u003e with Rabindranath Maharj and Dionne Brand. She is the author of the forthcoming \u003cem\u003eShame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging\u003c\/em\u003e, an analysis of the race debate from a personal perspective. She is also a librettist and professor of creative writing at the University of East Anglia. \u003cem\u003eWhere Are You, Agnes?\u003c\/em\u003e is her first picture book.\u003c\/p\u003e","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"JUVENILE FICTION \/ Art","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"JUVENILE FICTION \/ Girls \u0026amp; Women","BISACSubjectLiteral_2":"JUVENILE FICTION \/ Biographical \/ General","BISACSubject_0":"JUV003000","BISACSubject_1":"JUV014000","BISACSubject_2":"JUV004000","CommonCore":"CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7","ComplexityCode_0":"O","ComplexityCode_1":"O","ComplexitySchemeIdentifier_0":"05","ComplexitySchemeIdentifier_1":"09","ComplexitySchemeIdName_0":"Fountas \u0026amp; Pinnell Text Level Gradient","ComplexitySchemeIdName_1":"Guided Reading Level","ContributorBio_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTESSA MCWATT\u003c\/strong\u003e is an acclaimed author whose work includes novels for adults and young people. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards and the OCM Bocas Prize. Most recently, she published the novel \u003cem\u003eHigher Ed\u003c\/em\u003e and co-edited \u003cem\u003eLuminous Ink: Writers on Writing in Canada\u003c\/em\u003e with Rabindranath Maharj and Dionne Brand. She is the author of the forthcoming \u003cem\u003eShame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging\u003c\/em\u003e, an analysis of the race debate from a personal perspective. She is also a librettist and professor of creative writing at the University of East Anglia. \u003cem\u003eWhere Are You, Agnes?\u003c\/em\u003e is her first picture book.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","ContributorBio_1":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZUZANNA CELEJ\u003c\/strong\u003e is an award-winning children’s book illustrator as well as an artist and painter. She has illustrated more than fifty children’s books, including \u003cem\u003eThe Map of Good Memories\u003c\/em\u003e by Fran Nuño, which won the New York City Big Book Award, \u003cem\u003eThe Lighthouse of Souls\u003c\/em\u003e by Ariel Andrés Almada, \u003cem\u003eThe Old Oak Legacy\u003c\/em\u003e by J. L. Badal, \u003cem\u003eTania Val de Lumbre\u003c\/em\u003e by Maria Parr, \u003cem\u003eEl secreto de Abuelo Oso\u003c\/em\u003e by Pedro Mañas and \u003cem\u003eInside My Imagination\u003c\/em\u003e by Marta Arteaga, which won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Best Illustrator and the Living Now Book Award for a children’s picture book. Originally from Poland, Zuzanna now lives in Barcelona.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","ContributorRole_1":"Illustrated by","Contributor_0":"McWatt, Tessa (CA)","Contributor_1":"Celej, Zuzanna","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin was born on the Canadian prairies in the early twentieth century. In this imagining of her childhood from acclaimed author Tessa McWatt, Agnes spends her days surrounded by wheat fields, where her grandfather encourages her to draw what she sees and feels around her: the straight horizon, the feeling of the sun, the movement of birds’ wings and the shapes she sees in the wheat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne day, Agnes’s family moves to a house in a big city. The straight horizon and wheat fields are gone, but Agnes continues to draw what she sees and feels around her. No one except her grandfather understands what she is trying to capture — not her mother, who asks, “Where are you, Agnes?” when she sees her daughter engrossed in her drawing; nor her siblings, who think her art is ugly. Still, Agnes keeps trying to capture what she sees inside her mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgnes Martin grew up to become a famous abstract expressionist artist. Tessa McWatt has written a beautiful story of Agnes’s childhood and how it might have shaped her adult work. Zuzanna Celej’s watercolors adeptly capture Agnes’s world, including hints of the grid paintings that she was later known for, against the backdrop of prairie and city landscapes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes an author’s note with more information about Agnes Martin’s life and the inspiration behind this story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKey Text Features\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nauthor's note\u003cbr\u003e\nart history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorrelates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7\u003cbr\u003e\nUse information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781773061405","Height":"8.625","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"Groundwood Books","KeyTextFeatures":"author's note;art history","MetaKeywords":"grade 3; grade 4; grade 5; grade 6; picture book; biography; author's note; art history; Saskatchewan; NYC; New York City; Vancouver; Canadian art; collage style artwork","NumberOfPages":"44","OtherText_Back_cover_copy_0":"\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eAgnes Martin was one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century. In recent years, her art has been exhibited at the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Tate Modern and others.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgnes was born in Macklin, Saskatchewan, then moved to Vancouver. As an adult she lived in New York City and later Taos, New Mexico.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere are a lot of biographical picture books about artists’ childhoods, but this one is unique in its focus on Agnes’s journey toward abstraction and her development as an artist.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTessa McWatt is a very well-published, well-respected author in Can Lit, so it is exciting to see her make her picture-book debut!\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCurriculum connections: Visual art \/ abstract expressionism; Language arts \/ biography.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Previous_review_q_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW COPIES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBooklist\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHorn Book\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Review_0":"\u003cp\u003e … gorgeously written … The philosophical narrative and nature-filled illustrations combine to create a contemplative work that celebrates an underappreciated woman artist. STARRED REVIEW\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Shelf Awareness","OtherText_Review_1":"\u003cp\u003eThe language is simple and evocative…[and] the illustrations are sublime. …[A]rt that is both soft, emanating visual possibility, and ordered—much like the minimalist work of Martin herself. STARRED REVIEW\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"Kirkus Reviews","OtherText_Review_2":"\u003cp\u003e[A]n exceptional picture book.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_2_Src":"CM Review of Materials","OtherText_Review_3":"\u003cp\u003eOpening this book is akin to donning a pair of magic glasses to see the world the way Martin may have. STARRED REVIEW\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_3_Src":"Quill \u0026 Quire","OtherText_Review_4":"\u003cp\u003e[A] whimsical picture book … McWatt brilliantly explores the unique vision Martin had of the world when she was a child, a world in which she often gets lost.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Review_4_Src":"Globe and Mail","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"This stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.","PrizeCodeText_0":"Commended","PrizeCodeText_1":"Commended","PrizeCode_0":"03","PrizeCode_1":"03","PrizeName_0":"Quill \u0026 Quire Best Books of the Year Honourable Mention","PrizeName_1":"Kirkus Best Picture Books of the Year","PrizeYear_0":"2020","PrizeYear_1":"2020","ProductFormDescription":"hardcover jacket","PublicationDate":"2020-05-01","Publisher":"Groundwood Books Ltd","ShortDescription":"This stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.","Width":"10.25","WidthCode":"in"}
ages 4
and up
/ grades K
and up
Where Are You, Agnes?
This stunning picture-book imagining of artist Agnes Martin’s childhood gives readers a glimpse into the life and work of one of the most esteemed abstract painters of the twentieth century.
