As she did with her magnificent Looking at Lincoln, Maira Kalman here creates a singular biography of our third president through portraits, artifacts and salient quotes from the wordsmith himself.
This is as much a tribute to Monticello as it is to its architect. "The house was a museum of his mind," she writes, panning a room with maps, a human bust and an array of mounted antlers. Jefferson's bed divides his chambers into "two rooms"--one with his reading desk, the other with boots at the ready for jumping into and going outside. Kalman then segues outdoors, where a garden awaits, and includes Jefferson's favorite vegetable: peas. (An elegant inset lists a half-dozen pea varieties.) But the author-artist does not paint a saint. She includes not only the accomplishments of this "monumental man" but also his "monumental flaws." A reproduction of a page from Jefferson's farm book lists his slaves ("Our hearts are broken," Kalman writes), and she adds, "It is strongly believed that after his wife died, Jefferson had children with the beautiful Sally Heming."
Grown-up fans of Kalman's blog And the Pursuit of Happiness for the New York Times (later published as a book) will recognize a few favorite pictures: the wonderful pink chair piled with reading material accompanying the quote "I cannot live without books"; a portrait of Benjamin Franklin; and Washington's teeth, among them. The author-artist's electric colors and personal asides make this an intimate biography sure to pull in young readers and inspire them to further study. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness