Sometimes I realize just how much I don’t know.
That was the case when I stumbled across a mention of Ben Shahn and looked him up.
If you don’t know Shahn, he was born in Lithuania in 1898 and died in the U.S. in 1969. He was Jewish, and his family came to the U.S. to escape antisemitic violence.
The 2021 picture book The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice With Art, written by Cynthia Levinson and illustrated by Evan Turk, tells the story of his life, his art, his heart, his ethics, and his politics. It does a good job of showing how Shahn’s adult passions and projects were rooted in childhood, which could help readers realize they too might be right about the world and their place in it even if they are very young.
Levinson sprinkles some Yiddish throughout the early years (and pages) and provides a brief glossary before the story to help readers with these terms. She tells the story with a tight focus and draws attention to key moments in Shahn’s life, moments are are intrinsically dramatic. Some of these will really appeal to young readers, as when the young Shahn defies first a teacher, then one of the Czar’s soldiers–after he watches some of these soldiers arrest his father.
Levinson often writes on figures who fought for social justice, and that passion comes through, both in the story and in Evan Turk’s art, which is bold and vivid. (It reminds me somewhat of Jacob Lawrence’s work.)
This book won the Sibert Award, a major award for informational children’s books.
One point that should draw you to read about Shahn: he influenced Tomie dePaola (creator of Strega Nona) and Leo Lionni, both of who are giants in the picture book world.
