Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (Caldecott & Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner)

Winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be beautiful.

Author: Javaka Steptoe
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 10/25/2016
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 10.80h x 9.30w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780316213882
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.7
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 183793 / Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat


Award: Coretta Scott King Award - Winner
Award: Caldecott Medal - Winner


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 08/01/2016 pg. 127
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/0001
Publishers Weekly 08/08/2016
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2016 pg. 147
Booklist 09/15/2016 pg. 48
Shelf Awareness 10/25/2016
Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2016 pg. 101
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 12/01/2016
School Library Journal 12/01/2016 pg. 40
School Library Journal 02/01/2017 pg. 49
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2017 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author
Javaka Steptoe is a Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Illustrator award-winning artist, designer, and illustrator. His debut picture book, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall, won the Coretta Scott King Award, and Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow (written by Gary Golio) received a Coretta Scott King Honor. He has also illustrated Do You Know What I'll Do? by Charlotte Zolotow, A Pocketful of Poems by Nikki Grimes, Amiri and Odette: A Love Story by Walter Dean Myers, Rain Play by Cynthia Cotten, and Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English, which received the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. He is also the author and illustrator of The Jones Family Express, as well as the Caldecott award-winning Radiant Child. Javaka invites you to visit his website at Javaka.com.