Breaking Waves: Winslow Homer Paints the Sea

by Robert Burleigh, Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Overview

When Winslow Homer watches the sea, he studies it patiently, making sure to notice every detail before bringing it to life again in his paintings.

The fabled painter Winslow Homer always had a deep respect for the elemental power and beauty of the ever-changing ocean. Whenever he set up his easel, he was drawn back to its frothing waves smashing against rocks, gleaming like mirrors in the sunlight. He knew it took patience to get his painting just right to capture the life of the ocean.

Breaking Waves: Winslow Homer Paints the Sea describes the artist's process from season to season, readers are shown the many blues, greys, browns, and golds that Winslow Homer used to depict the changing sea. Additional content in the back of the book further explains his work and passion for the ocean.


A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823447022
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,167,753
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Robert Burleigh is the award-winning author of many books for children, including The Adventures of Mark Twain by Huckleberry Finn, illustrated by Barry Blitt; Night Flight, illustrated by Wendell Minor; Black Whiteness, illustrated by Walter Lyon Krudop; and Sylvia's Bookshop, illustrated by Katy Wu. His many other books include Hoops; Stealing Home; and Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! He lives in Michigan.

Wendell Minor is the illustrator of many award-winning picture books for children, including Edward Hopper Paints His World with Robert Burleigh as well as Wild Orca by Brenda Peterson and the New York Times-bestselling Reaching for the Moon by Buzz Aldrin. He lives in Washington, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

03/22/2021

“How can paint and canvas ever tell the true story of the vast and ever-changing ocean? Winslow doesn’t know the answer, but he feels the puzzle patiently waiting deep within him.” Burleigh lyrically cycles through the seasons and the sea’s changing moods as perceived by the artist Winslow Homer (1836–1910), punctuated by direct quotes from the artist, presented in italics. Throughout, Burleigh focuses on Homer’s creative process, repeating the imperative “Look!”— a clue to Homer’s faith in acute and careful observation, and a cue to the reader to engage with Minor’s watercolor and gouache illustrations. Minor’s realistic depictions of Homer’s spare and tidy domestic world and prim suiting situate the story in time, while the looser, more expressive evocations of the untamed Maine coastline evoke place. The closing section, dotted with exclamations and painting reproductions, fills in biographical details. A solid introduction to a major American artist. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"With quiet intensity, the book’s words and pictures set Homer’s work and self-sufficient style of living within the frame of this fascination. Children ages 4-8 may almost feel that they have joined in the artist’s creative process. . . ."—Wall Street Journal

★ "The watercolor and pencil illustrations are beautiful and capture the different feelings the sea can conjure. The images are at times calm and peaceful and at times thrilling and dangerous. These illustrations are reason enough to add this book to collections but, in addition to the gorgeous visuals, this work is rich with sensory language. . . . A beautiful and rich work of literary nonfiction."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

"A solid introduction to a major American artist."—Publishers Weekly

"It takes a special talent to convey the essence of an artist to children in an understandable way. Burleigh does so expertly, highlighting Winslow Homer’s fascination and love for the ocean and its waves, by pulling out and repeating words of action—splash, shimmer, calm, roar—to convey the emotion of Homer’s seascapes as he captures with paint the beauty of the Maine coast where his family vacationed."—Booklist

"Interspersing Homer’s actual words with imagined daily activities, Burleigh’s text brings readers into the artist’s sensibility and creative process. . . . Quite authentically Homer." —Kirkus Reviews

"Burleigh portrays a disciplined, patient Homer over the course of five seasons, relentlessly observing storms from perilous vantage points, making notes and sketches to aid memory, and refusing to still his brush after completing fine paintings that didn’t quite rise to his own expectations. Careful viewers will note the shift between Minor’s watercolor styles: smooth and reportorial when tracking Homer’s quotidian activities away from his easel, and increasingly loose and atmospheric when addressing Homer’s intense seaside observations and efforts at perfecting his craft."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2021

Gr 3–6—This stunning work of literary nonfiction follows a year in the life and process of American painter Winslow Homer (1836–1910). The pacing of this book centers on the four seasons, beginning with winter, and describes how the sea and Homer shift and change through the year. Homer paints and paints, trying to capture the essence and movement of the sea, often coming close, but persevering nonetheless. Each season begins with a bold, poetic stanza which introduces the ideas and feelings the next section will evoke. The watercolor and pencil illustrations are beautiful and capture the different feelings the sea can conjure. The images are at times calm and peaceful and at times thrilling and dangerous. These illustrations are reason enough to add this book to collections but, in addition to the gorgeous visuals, this work is rich with sensory language. These details both enhance the experience of reading the book and can be applied and analyzed in language arts instruction of sensory language. Back matter includes photographs of Homer and his work as well as maps and more traditional biographical information. VERDICT A beautiful and rich work of literary nonfiction.—Christina Salazar, Mesquite I.S.D., TX

School Library Journal

2021-05-05
Emphasizing 19th-century American artist Winslow Homer’s life in Prouts Neck, Maine, this picture book explores Homer’s love of painting the ocean.

Winslow Homer was a successful American artist in his lifetime, and when he was 47, he left New York City to move to a southern Maine peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Here, in his converted carriage house/studio, he spent his time observing the sea and painting its moods. Rather than a biography, this book presents a contemplation on the fascination Homer felt for the Atlantic and the rocky shore—the inspiration for his well-known seascapes. Interspersing Homer’s actual words with imagined daily activities, Burleigh’s text brings readers into the artist’s sensibility and creative process. The watercolor-and-gouache illustrations (a medium that Homer also employed) stay within Homer’s palette in their color choices and are rendered in a loose, sketchy style. Both the style and the palette choice are effective creative decisions, delivering to the story a cumulative ambiance of an artist at work indoors and out, sketching, planning, seeing, and trying. Limiting the storyline to Homer in Prouts Neck effectively encapsulates Homer’s fascination with painting the sea while underscoring his dedication to his art. Extensive backmatter gives further detail about Homer’s life and travels, taking care to note his paintings that include African Americans (subjects not usually included in 19th-century American fine art).

Quite authentically Homer. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews