Picasso's Trousers

Gr 1–3—Allan touches on Picasso's life and provides a succinct look at his artistic style. He describes the artist's blue period, his approach to capturing human faces, his use of bike parts to create art, and his emphasis on heaviness. The intriguing title does not fully reflect the content; Picasso's humorous quest for striped trousers does not receive attention until the last third of the story. Wanting to be the best-dressed painter, he searched for pants to match his striped shirt. The illustrations have a painterly quality. Reproductions of Picasso's art are also included; some examples contain nudity. The font, which looks like handwriting, uses uppercase letters to draw attention to selected words and phrases in a manner that can sometimes be distracting. A foldout displaying young Picasso at work in his studio appears early on while a flap at the end reveals the artist's striped underwear and socks. Large black arrows in the illustrations of his trouser choices show the direction of the stripes. This book is much broader in coverage than Mil Niepold and Jeanyves Verdu's Oooh! Picasso (Tricycle, 2009). Libraries in which more materials on Picasso are needed will find this unusual biography helpful.—Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH