  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 08/01/2019 While some architects are famous for skyscrapers or monuments, this picture-book biography captures how Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home. Beginning with the architect’s childhood on the Wisconsin prairie, the author credits Wright’s mother for giving him wooden blocks and fostering a lifelong appreciation of shapes. Lyrical text recalls Wright’s early passion for architecture and his desire to break away from the old European-style houses he felt didn’t match the American landscape. Digitally enhanced mixed-media artwork not only reflects colors that fit Wright’s moods and physical locales but also uses geometric shapes to embody his concepts. As Rosenstock concludes by describing Wright’s Prairie-style houses and their relationship to shape and nature, Neal’s illustrations provide apt representations. Although time periods are not always clear from the text, an author’s note fills in details about the architect’s life and career. Appended photographs of Wright and his best-known designs, including Fallingwater, Robie House, and the Guggenheim Museum, also offer context. This look at Wright’s creative process will inspire children to take notice of their surroundings. - Copyright 2019 Booklist. School Library Journal - 08/01/2019 Gr 2–5—In this picture book biography of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Rosenstock emphasizes the development of Wright's unique architectural vision; he grew up to believe that houses should fit the landscapes surrounding them and the lifestyle of families living in them. He thought that houses should also include the basic shapes that he had grown to love as a young boy. Instead of focusing on specific buildings Wright created, this book highlights the roots of his thinking—how what he believed as a boy influenced what he did as a grown man. These ideas are reinforced by Neal's illustrations. The rolling, colorful prairie of Wisconsin that Wright loved is in contrast with the gray, rocky coast of New England where his family moved when he was nine. Neal also contrasts the old-style European houses being built on the prairie with Wright's newer vision of a prairie house that fit the landscape. Back matter deepens understanding of Wright's delight in shapes and natural landscapes, and includes photographs of the subject and some of his outstanding architecture. VERDICT An excellent introduction to the ideas behind Wright's architecture. Use with K.L. Going's The Shape of the World and Lynda Waggoner's Fallingwater to learn more about the man who has been called America's greatest architect.—Myra Zarnowski, City University of New York - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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