Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington

This striking picture book biography focuses on surrealist artist Leonora Carrington and her influences. Inspired by her grandmother’s stories, which took her “to worlds that shimmered beyond this one,” Carrington’s sensibilities eventually made her simpatico with the French surrealists. When Germany invaded Western Europe, she fled to Mexico, where she continued to develop her fantastical style, rejecting confining gender expectations in the process: “Her women did things they didn’t do in paintings made by men. Instead of lying on a couch, they were listening to the stars.... They were friends with monkeys, Minotaurs, and mythic birds.” Rather than recreating Carrington’s artwork, Hall complements the artist’s imagery through her own strange and radiant mixed-media spreads. Ages 4–8. [em](Jan.) [/em]