Rhodes-Pitts, Sharifa. Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, a Young Artist in Harlem. illus. by Christopher Myers. 44p. reprods. Museum of Modern Art. 2015. Tr $18.95. ISBN 9780870709654.

PreS-Gr 2–A picture book biography on renowned painter Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000). Lawrence moved to Harlem in 1930 to rejoin his mother, who had moved to New York three years earlier in search of work. Lawrence was 13 years old and already a gifted artist. Stirred by the sights, sounds, and bustling movement he saw and heard in his new neighborhood, which was abuzz with the creativity of the Harlem Renaissance, he produced bold, vivid art; fortunately, he had the opportunity to attend an after-school arts program in which he honed his considerable talents. Inspired by Lawrence’s early years and his deep desire to represent the people and community around him, Rhodes-Pitts has written a clear, simple tale, told in present tense and filled with colorful imagery. Myers’s art has a looser, sketchier quality than Lawrence’s more graceful figures, but both artists demonstrate a passion for vibrant, eye-popping colors that powerfully capture the African American experience. Myers’s illustrations are energetic and flowing, though facial features—absent in Lawrence’s work—are less successful. Several of Lawrence’s paintings from his famous Migration series are interspersed throughout and identified in the back matter. There is also a short biographical piece about Lawrence and his work. VERDICT Creative youngsters may be motivated to craft works about their own neighborhoods. Pair this with Patricia MacLachlan’s The Iridescence of Birds (Roaring Brook, 2014), about the boyhood of another 20th-century master, Henri Matisse, for an artist-themed lesson or storytime.–Carol Goldman, Queens Library, NY