Reviews for Wanda Ga'g: Storybook Artist

The average rating for Wanda Ga'g: Storybook Artist based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-27 00:00:00 Yasmin Flack Now I have certainly from a general thematic and content-based point of departure very much appreciated Gwyneth Swain's Wanda Gág: Storybook Artist, as the author has in my opinion for the most part deftly (and without too much overly emotional exaggeration) managed to portray Wanda Gág as to who and what she was and to also glowingly demonstrate not only the many highlights but also the numerous lowlights of her life and career as both artist/illustrator and children's literature author (how Wanda Gág's artistic development was achieved, and especially, how supportive her own family always was towards her and that especially her artist father Anton was never critical of her penchant for daydreaming and openly, actively encouraged his daughter's drawing manias but always with the admonishment that Wanda should compose her own pictures, that she should draw and sketch what was in her mind, what she observed and never simply copy and imitate the work of others). With Gwyneth Swain's text accompanied by numerous archival photographs, as well as a goodly number of examples of Wanda Gág's own artwork (and thankfully not just from her illustrated children's books), an appreciated (and to and for me always necessary and important with regard to non fiction) glossary, chronology, source notes and last but not least a detailed and well organised into individual sections bibliography, in many ways Wanda Gág: Storybook Artist is a wonderful and often even perfect general introduction to Wanda Gág's life, career and times (not only for older children above the age of twelve or so but also for interested adults). And main reason I am granting a three and not a four star ranking to Wanda Gág: Storybook Artist is that personally, there are a few informational gaps which I for one would like to have seen filled in and dealt with (such as for example, some details on whether Wanada Gág and her family, seeing that they were German speaking and according to Gwyneth Swain also staunchly against WWI faced much anti-German animosity and bigotry in New Ulm, Minnesota due to their ethnic, cultural background and obvious pacifism), and that there are indeed also a few to and for me potentially disconcerting issues with Gwyneth Swain's writing style and vocabulary choices (like the author claiming how Wanda's father, how Anton Gág somehow looked like a "typical" artist and even more frustratingly and annoyingly, her making the rather majorly strange authorial remark regarding Wanda Gág's death of lung cancer in 1946 at the comparatively young age of just fifty-three that "even Wanda could not live forever").

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-02 00:00:00 John D Raymond A decent overview of Gag's life and the important part of her story. Also, the first official verification that this author did indeed board with my family (the Roigers) while teaching near Springfield. More research is needed to find out exactly who that was!