Grandma Moses

by Alexandra Wallner

A brief biography of Anna Mary Robertson, the artist who was known as Grandma Moses, describes the inspiration behind and development of her paintings.

Genres: Art, Biography, Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Alexandra Wallner was born in Germany. Not able to speak English when she immigrated to the United States, she almost flunked first grade. But with the help of comic books--Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, Katy Keene, Little Lulu--she learned her new language. Words and pictures together lit the spark for her future career.

After graduating from Pratt Institute’s Fine Art Program with an MFA and enjoying a brief stint in magazine design, she started collaborating with her husband John in creating children’s books.

Not limited to a love for children's books, Alex and John have a passion for renovating and working in old houses. In Woodstock, N. Y. they renovated an 1850’s farmhouse. They restored an 1865 townhouse in Philadelphia and remodeled a 1920's Maine island cottage.

During the long Maine winters, Alex started taking notes for a story about Sylvia and Max Saltwater and their encounters with island folk. The notes evolved into PINOCCHIO ISLAND.

They started thinking about warmer places to live when Alex became weary of slipping on ice. Breaking precedence, they moved to a warm climate into a newly built Florida house. Unfortunately soon after, they experienced three hurricanes in six weeks.

Continuing their gypsy ways, they moved to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico where they restored a mid-nineteenth century casa and added two studios in the back of the garden.

They care for an elderly Jack Russell, a family of cats, a rambunctious iguana, and a sprinkling of geckos.

Alex threw out the moving boxes and swears this is her final home.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice biography of artist Anna Mary Robertson later known as Grandma Moses.

[Drusilla Pair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book of an artist who lived to be 101 years old.

[Sarah Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genre: Biography
Awards:
Age Group: Primary

Summary: This is the story of Anna Mary Robertson, the folk painter who became famous under the name Grandma Moses. Anna Mary lived a simple country life but always enjoyed painting. Her scenes of everyday life on the farm became popular in galleries when she was eighty years old. She served as an inspiration for the elderly population and painted well into her senior years.

Evaluation: I gave this book two of five stars because they writing style wasn't terrible exciting. Grandma Moses was a simple but vivacious woman. She was passionate about art and created masterpieces with simple materials on a tight budget. Her folk paintings are capable of transporting you to a time where families skated on iced ponds and worked diligently on their farms. The illustrations in this book mimicked the folk style that Grandma Moses was known for. While this book was accurate, I did not think the subject matter was presented in an interesting fashion. I have always been curious about Grandma Moses because one of her paintings hung in my childhood home. Unfortunately, this book didn't satisfy my curiosity and left me flat.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know until I read this book that Grandma Moses lived not too far from where I'm living now. A very interesting lady!

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple biography of Grandma Moses

[Chelsea]

This was a cute book that showed how Grandma Moses came to be. It helps to keep the children interested in the story by the pretty artwork and the interesting occurrences in the story!

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great kid-friendly intro resource for students to become familiar with Grandma Moses. Her story is inspiring for many reasons. I think kids will enjoy it very much.

[Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

You didn't read this but I did.