Noonie's Masterpiece in Purple: A play - Softcover

Lisa Railsback was a Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and a Michener Fellow in Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. Her plays have been performed across the United States. Noonie's Masterpiece was originally a play. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Sarajo Frieden is an illustrator and fine artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries all over the world. Her work appears frequently in magazines and art venues, and her clients range from the New Yorker to UNICEF. Visit her Web site at sarajofrieden.com.

Grade 4-6 Noonie Norton, 10, considers herself a brilliant but undiscovered artist. Since the death of her artist mother, she lives with her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin, while her archaeologist father travels extensively. The girl is eccentric, donning odd clothes, daydreaming, drawing in class, and spontaneously using her peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich to make pictures on the school floor. She goes through blue and purple periods during which everything she wears or paints is in that color. Schoolmates stay away, except for Reno, a clumsy math nerd who idolizes her. Noonie misses her father greatly and writes him letters describing her Blue Flu, Moldy Blue Fever, or Biting Blue Rabies so he will come home, and he corresponds regularly, often sending her gifts he finds on his travels. Railsback's story, originally written as a play, maintains the prominent theme of art serving as therapy. Noonie's beloved Masterpieces of Art provides hours of comfort as she imagines her affinity with Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Vincent Van Gogh, and others. Frieden's ink-and-watercolor illustrations float through the book like the dreamy thoughts of an aspiring young artist. Although a few characters are one-dimensional, Noonie's first-person chat with readers allows myriad emotions, and growth, to shine through. Interesting enough for reluctant readers, this title can be used in a unit on artists, but it also paints a lovely, quirky portrait as a stand-alone. D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH
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