Kindergarten-Grade 6-Believing that enjoyment of the art in picture books can be a prelude to pleasure in a museum, Blake designed an exhibit (with the same title as this book) at the National Gallery in London. The images in the show and on these pages come from European children's books and Great Britain's galleries and were chosen for their story potential. Blake's signature caricatures cavort and converse before and after each of the 26 pictures, modeling responses that invite imitation. His arrangement is alphabetical by artist, from Hendrick Avercamp to Lisbeth Zwerger. ("X," however, is an X ray of an underpainting, sure to fascinate since it is different from the surface.) Four pages are devoted to each entry. Initially, sketches of children, outlined in black and dabbed with gray/blue patches of color, carry signs that announce the artist's name.
