A Portrait in Poems

January 6, 2020
The story begins in the middle: the middle of the Jardin du Luxembourg, at “an eight-sided pond/ where you can rent a tiny sailboat/ and set it adrift over and over again.” And in the middle of Stein’s adulthood, in the early 1900s at her home around the corner from the garden. Through eight short chapters, each marked with a Stein quote, Robillard elliptically traces the contours of Stein’s adulthood: the portrait of her that Picasso painted, her “word portraits” and long life beside Alice B. Toklas (“a tiny, dark-haired woman... Alice would ask you lots of questions/ in her quick, quiet voice”), and their eventual deaths. Robillard eventually asserts Stein’s genius—“Gertrude Stein was much, much more/ than a collector of paintings/ or a nibbler of tea cakes”—but Stein’s brilliance, as ever, is difficult to convey, though this introduction to the figure and her partner charms. Katstaller deploys gouache, colored pencil, and graphite in blues and greens, mustards and roses, to sketch art salons and garden idylls; supplemental materials add extra biographical detail and context. Ages 6–9.

Starred review from March 1, 2020
A warming look at two paragons of American modernism. With spare, free-verse poems and whimsical, wonderfully upbeat illustrations, Robillard and Katstaller bring to young readers the enchanting story of American expats Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris. Robillard concentrates largely on Stein's domestic life, describing how she and her brother Leo, then Alice, resided at 27 rue de Fleurus at the turn of the 20th century and famously collected paintings by Matisse, C�zanne, Gauguin, "the one and only Pablo Picasso," and other masters, creating a salon for all kinds of visual and literary artists that would come to have a huge influence on modernism. Robillard writes: "Gertrude knew when a painting had something special to say. / Because she was Gertrude Stein. / Gertrude Stein, the genius." While Robillard elides the romantic aspect of Stein's relationship with "her partner, Alice"--and the fact that they were Jews living in World War II Paris--she takes great care to show how the intimacy of their partnership contributed to Stein's mammoth literary output. Alongside Katstaller's winningly childlike renderings of famous paintings and well-known portraits of Stein, Toklas, and their dog, Basket, Robillard includes quotes from Stein's best-known works, offering a tantalizing introduction to her work while humanizing her ingenuity. This accessible, kid-sized portrayal of Stein and Toklas' famous relationship is a charmer. (timeline, sources, author's note) (Picture book/biography/poetry. 6-9)

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March 1, 2020
Grades 1-4 Adults who know of Gertrude Stein recognize her as a prominent author of the twentieth century. Before introducing children to Stein's writing, however, this picture-book biography first acknowledges Stein, along with her brother Leo, as an esteemed art collector. In episodic chapters, free verse (that reads more like prose) describes several events from Stein's adult life in Paris, from having her portrait painted by Picasso and meeting her partner, Alice B. Toklas, to acquiring a dog and publishing her seminal work. Quotes by Stein open each chapter, while stylized cartoonish illustrations in vintage colors from the time period, reminiscent of the work of G. Brian Karas, add depth to Stein's artistic life. Although the main text closes with Stein's death, the book continues with a timeline, Snapshots that feature illustrated thumbnails and more details about Stein, a bibliography, and an author's note that returns to Stein as an art collector and also addresses her ties to Nazi collaborators. Together, the poems and the short pieces combine to tell a larger story about this influential literary figure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 8, 2020

Gr 1-4-Robillard and Katstaller offer a lively introduction to modernism and the literary scene in 1920s Paris. The text presents a "storied life" of poet and novelist Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas. The book begins with Stein's Left Bank residence at 27 Rue de Fleurus, where she and her brother Leo began their art collection, followed by a peek into the salon Stein and Toklas ran (including cultural and literary figures like Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway), and then highlights of Stein's writing career. The story of Picasso's painting of Stein is later revisited in Stein's "word portrait" of Picasso. Stein writes, "Would he like it would Napoleon/ would Napoleon would would he/ like it." Stein's poem could be interpreted as a puzzling portrait of Picasso; most readers would want to know how words about Napoleon represent Picasso. Readers can see how Stein's radical approach to capturing Picasso also opens up questions about power in their relationship. The book concludes with a time line, a bibliography, and an author's note reflecting on the survival of Stein's art collection through Nazi occupation during World War II. Katstaller's illustrations playfully reflect modernism in simple ways; in one scene, there is a high-angle perspective of the paintings hanging in Stein's salon in her Paris apartment, which depicted altered viewpoints. VERDICT A book that is rich in strong personalities and perspectives on art. Robillard details the life of Stein and Toklas in engaging and age-appropriate ways.-Marisa Januzzi, Northern Valley Regional H.S., NJ

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