Beautiful Useful Things

March 1, 2022
The story of Victorian artist and creator William Morris. As Kephart explains, the "writer, scholar, artist, activist, bookman" dedicated his life to honoring and creating beautiful things. Living in an era when the advent of mass manufacturing was beginning to severely damage the environment, Morris sought to preserve the art of making hand-crafted objects. Drawing inspiration from nature, travel, and the past, he carved out a place in history, and his influence persists today. Kephart's text is leisurely, encouraging readers to fully take in every stanza and lovely illustration. Rich vocabulary, lyricism, and careful word choices enhance and deepen meaning. Stacey's incredible soft-edged illustrations are reminiscent of Morris' style: full of movement, imagination, and detail. One double-page spread uses a bird's-eye perspective, drawing the eye downward past birds perched in a tree and hovering insects to young Morris below. Another shows a story springing to life from the pages of an open book. The nature elements that appear as motifs throughout the artwork, coupled with detailed close-ups of the processes of whittling, sewing, and bookbinding, reveal just how much Morris' art was connected to his appreciation of the beauty of the natural world. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A harmonious picture book whose poetic text and delicate illustrations befit its subject. (Picture book. 5-8)

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April 1, 2022
Grades K-3 Nineteenth-century craftsman and social reformer William Morris made beautiful objects with his hands and encouraged others to do the same. Unhappy about the cheaply made goods produced in his native England during the Industrial Revolution, he led a movement to revive the traditions of handcrafted furniture, textiles, wallpaper, and stained glass for the home. His designs often featured flowers and foliage. Later, Morris created handsome books using traditional printing and bookmaking methods and founded Kelmscott Press. Kephart quotes his most famous maxim, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." The book is less informative on biographical facts and personal attributes than on Morris' philosophy and his devotion to making beautiful, useful things, and Kephart's poetic text is more impressionistic than explanatory. Created with sweeping lines, repeated shapes, and deep, soft colors, Stacey's graceful illustrations reflect elements of Morris' artistic work as well as his affinity for nature. A lovely book introducing a notable Englishman whose life and work are unfamiliar to most American children.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2022

Gr 3-6-William Morris was truly a Renaissance man, even though he lived in Victorian England. In celebrating Morris's life, the author focuses on the design icon as an artist, environmentalist, and world traveler. Sparse on historical detail but rich in imagery, this biography presents the opportunity to see the world as Morris did; full of the connections and beauty found in nature. Disturbed by the mass production of goods and the resulting pollution of the environment resulting from England's Industrial Revolution, Morris made the conscious decision to promote handmade items and support the arts and crafts movement of the period. The book's appealing illustrations are reminiscent of Morris's style as an artist. They contain connecting images viewed from various perspectives and reflect his passion for nature. Artisans of the period are depicted creating handmade works of art using the tools and materials of the era. Back matter includes an author's note, an illustrator's note, and a list of resources. VERDICT This title would be a good addition for libraries wishing to expand their picture book biography section or build a collection of books on lesser-known historical figures.-Lynne Stover

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 11, 2022
In the midst of the Industrial Revolution, while factories churned out pollution alongside mass-produced goods, British artist William Morris (1834–1896) led a quiet rebellion of “beautiful useful things,” rendering patterns of vines and flowers, making them into textiles and papers, and starting a press to print books. “In William’s workshop, each pattern, wallpaper, tapestry, and rug... was conceived by the heart and made by the hand.” Via illustrations that employ Arts and Crafts movement aesthetics, Stacey starts with the oak leaves, vines, birds, and insects that Morris encounters as a child, using them as motifs throughout to frame vignettes that underscore the organic forms of Morris’s work. Lilting lines by Kephart slip into verse and out again (“with his friends, he began—/ to sketch, to paint, to knot, to sew,.../ to shape, to cut, to loom, to know,/ what the hands could do,/ when the eyes would see”) in a volume about considering beauty that is itself beautiful, and restful, too. Ages 4–8.