National Network for Equitable Library Service

Although much has been written about Tom Thomson's mysterious death, little to nothing has been written about his life's accomplishment: how in less than four years, a man with little experience and no art school education was able to create hundreds of paintings that have captured the nation's imagination for almost a century. This is the real Tom Thomson mystery, and it is a story worth telling.

The term "guerrilla" may bring to mind a small band of armed soldiers, moving in the dead of night on a stealth mission. In the case of guerrilla gardening, the soldiers are planters, the weapons are shovels, and the mission is to transform an abandoned lot into a thing of beauty. Once an environmentalist's nonviolent direct action for inner-city renewal, this approach to urban beautification is spreading to all types of people in cities around the world.

Rita Winkler is a young woman living with Down syndrome. My Art, My World shows us the world as she sees it: a place full of joy, color, and the delight of life with her family and friends. Approaching her daily life with enthusiasm and a dry sense of humor, Rita rides public transit to her job working at a university coffee shop. She takes yoga and folk dance classes and enjoys drama and music at a day program, and she continues to practice using sign language. Rita's great passion is making art. Here she shows her love for the world in fun and beautiful works of art.

Theodor Adorno once remarked that, "... every work of art is an uncommitted crime." This book is a tribute to political artists who deviate from the mainstream and create art that engages with questions of societal oppression, survival, and resistance. It draws on interviews with transnational artists whose work is representative of emerging trends in art, visual culture, and political aesthetics.

Using Toronto as a case study, Subdivided asks how cities would function if decision-makers genuinely accounted for race, ethnicity, and class when confronting issues such as housing, policing, labor markets, and public space. With essays contributed by an array of city-builders, it proposes solutions for fully inclusive communities that respond to the complexities of a global city.

A lyrically told, exquisitely illustrated biography of influential Jewish artist and activist Ben Shahn"The first thing I can remember," Ben said, "I drew."As an observant child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees--and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers' rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too. So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what's right.

Celebrated artist Robert Bateman is renowned internationally for bringing the natural world to life on the canvas. A naturalist and painter from his youth, Robert has for decades used his recognition to shed light on environmental issues and advocate for animal welfare. Robert Bateman: The Boy Who Painted Nature is the story of how a young child achieved his dream of painting the world around him and became one of Canada's most famous artists.

In a sparkling social history, Skirts traces the shifting roles of women over the twentieth century through the era's most iconic and influential dresses. While the story of women's liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants over the twentieth century, the most important and influential female fashions of the era featured skirts. Suffragists and soldiers marched in skirts; the heroines of the Civil Rights Movement took a stand in skirts.

Leonardo da Vinci was a gifted painter, talented musician, and dedicated scientist and inventor, designing flying machines, submarines, and even helicopters. Yet he had a hard time finishing things, a problem anyone can relate to. Only thirteen paintings are known to be his; as for the illustrated encyclopedia he intended to create, all that he left were thousands of disorganized notebook pages. Here is an accessible portrait of a fascinating man who lived at a fascinating time--Italy during the Renaissance.

Even as a kid, everyone thought Jeff Kinney was talented. People loved his drawings, and when he went to college, his comic strip Igdoof was so popular that it spread to other universities! Still, Jeff faced challenges. His cartoons were rejected by syndicates that claimed his art was unprofessional. Then, an idea struck: Jeff would write a journal from the perspective of a child, illustrated with doodles just like a kid might do. And so, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series was born--and it was a hit!