{"id":35007,"date":"2026-02-26T12:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=35007"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:40:20","slug":"a-portrait-in-poems-the-storied-life-of-gertrude-stein-alice-b-toklas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/02\/26\/a-portrait-in-poems-the-storied-life-of-gertrude-stein-alice-b-toklas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Portrait in Poems: The Storied Life of Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Evie Robillard<\/strong> & Rachel Katstaller<\/strong> (Kids Can Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-5253-0056-1 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t cover nearly enough kids\u2019 books here, nor those with an Arts or Educational underpinning, and that\u2019s because I lazily prefer to read stuff that\u2019s entertaining, worthwhile and well-produced. And yes, I know they\u2019re not necessarily mutually exclusive but somehow, so often, they are. Happily, this gloriously inclusive biographical primer into one of the world\u2019s most interesting and accomplished women and her life partner is all of that and more.<\/p>\n

A delicious, enthralling picture book for 6 to 9-year-olds, A Portrait in Poems<\/strong> pr\u00e9cis\u2019 and shares some notable Parisian moments in the life of author Gertrude Stein and her muse Alice B. Toklas. This unconventional couple led the upcoming arts glitterati of Europe and collected one of the most astounding art collections in history prior to one World War and before the next. The book is drafted in episodic free verse by librarian, teacher and writer Evie Robillard and painted with idyllic verve by El Salvadoran illustrator Rachel Katstaller in a superbly subtle manner guaranteed to get youngsters addicted to learning more.<\/p>\n

In short order you\u2019ll visit the protagonists\u2019 first home at \u201927 Rue de Fleurus\u2019<\/em>, observe as \u2018Picasso Paints a Portrait\u2019<\/em>, share \u2018Saturday Evenings\u2019<\/em> and enjoy \u2018The Room with All the Paintings\u2019<\/em> before meeting \u2018Gertrude Stein, the Genius\u2019<\/em>…
\n\"\"
\nThe couple shared their exalted Salon existence with \u2018A Dog Named Basket\u2019<\/em> (two actually) and we see more of them all in \u2018Gertrude & Alice & Basket in a Book\u2019<\/em> before wrapping up the history with what happened \u2018After\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Adding learning and lustre a \u2018Time Line\u2019<\/em> supplies dates and hard facts, while glimpses of character shine in a trio of epigrammatic \u2018Snapshots\u2019<\/em>, whilst \u2018Sources\u2019<\/em> offers some of Gertrude\u2019s best works to check out and a bibliography reveals more books about her, before a final \u2018Author\u2019s Note\u2019<\/em> deals with the contentious period when the couple abided under Nazi occupation in Vichy France.
\n\"\"
\nIt\u2019s never too early to give children a hunger to know stuff, and this bright, inclusive foray into the mind and life of one of our most remarkable thinkers is a welcome addition to any junior library or kids\u2019 book stash because it simply cries out for readers to go absorb more…
\nText \u00a9 2020 Evie Robillard. \u00a9 2020 Rachel Katstaller. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1877, pioneering comics wonder Rudolph<\/strong> (Katzenjammer Kids\/The Captain and the Kids<\/strong>) Dirks<\/strong> was born, with French writer\/illustrator\/publisher Jean Bruller<\/strong> following in 1902, Cuban cartoon everyman Ric Estrada<\/strong> in 1928, and journeyman comic book standby John Calnan<\/strong> in 1932.<\/p>\n

At the mature ends of the industry curve, UK satirist Steve Bell<\/strong> was born in 1951 – just as the Empire changed forever – and two years later so was Canadian David<\/strong> (Reid Fleming – World\u2019s Toughest Milkman<\/strong>) Boswell<\/strong>, with Argentinian Enrique Alcatena<\/strong> coming along in 1957 and Karen Berger<\/strong> in 1958.<\/p>\n

French pioneer Emmanuel Poir\u00e9<\/strong> – aka Caran d\u2019Ache<\/em> – died today in 1909, but his legacy includes stuff like Natacha<\/em> by Fran\u00e7ois Walth\u00e9ry<\/strong> in Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> today in 1970, and 2000 AD<\/strong> which launched in 1977 and is still on sale this week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Evie Robillard & Rachel Katstaller (Kids Can Press) ISBN: 978-1-5253-0056-1 (HB\/Digital edition) We don\u2019t cover nearly enough kids\u2019 books here, nor those with an Arts or Educational underpinning, and that\u2019s because I lazily prefer to read stuff that\u2019s entertaining, worthwhile and well-produced. And yes, I know they\u2019re not necessarily mutually exclusive but somehow, so … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Portrait in Poems: The Storied Life of Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[81,115,119,122,97,215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-books","category-biography","category-comicsacademic","category-historical","category-kids-all-ages","category-lgbtqia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-96D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35011,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35007\/revisions\/35011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}