Action Figures: Paintings of Fun, Daring, and Adventure »

Since majoring in art at the University of Illinois, Bob Raczka has been a writer at various Chicago area advertising agencies. His other books for the series include No One Saw: Ordinary Things Through the Eyes of an Artist; Art Is...; More Than Meets the Eye: Seeing Art with All Five Senses; Unlikely Pairs: Fun with Famous Works of Art; Here's Looking at Me: How Artists See Themselves; 3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet; Artful Reading; and The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art.

Here's your ticket to see some of the most colorful characters of the art world in action. Bob Raczka presents ringmasters, cannon blasters, dragon slayers, baseball players, and more - all captured on canvas by some of the world's most well-known artists. In these eighteen action-packed paintings, Raczka covers a wide range of times, places, and artistic styles. From Saint George and the Dragon (1470) by Paolo Uccello to Watson and the Shark (1782) by John Singleton Copley to BLAM (1962) by Roy Lichtenstein, this is art that will get your heart racing!

Children's Literature

Raczka seeks to introduce picture book readers to fine art, yet again, in his latest book. Rhyming text accompanies artwork ranging from the 1500's to today and each couplet accurately describes that action in the picture. There are circus scenes, horseback riders, airplanes, and shark bites. While this book does a good job of making art exciting, readers may be let down after seeing such a bright cover. The cover image is a painting by Roy Lichtenstein; a very vibrant, pop-art piece. The title page also features a superhero image of the author complete with word bubbles. Some readers may be disappointed by the more traditional images on the following pages. Each painting is very well cited, and a longer description may be found at the back of the book, along with "a seek and find" challenge for the last painting, "Children's Games." If encouraged, younger readers will find plenty of action in this volume of paintings. Reviewer: Tiffany Torbeck