<b>Finalist for the 2005/2006 Hackmatack Award</b><br><br><b>Shortlist for the Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Book Award<br></b><br><b>Finalist in the Nautilus 2005 Book Awards</b><br><br><br>Modern art has a language, and when it is learned it opens the door to treasure. In<i> Picasso: Soul on Fire,</i> Rick Jacobson and Laura Fernandez present more than the story of the painter's life. They provide young readers with the tools with which to understand his work. Picasso was an expert draftsman – his rendering of pigeons' feet by the time he was eleven was so detailed that his artist father recognized the boy's genius and stopped painting. But he took art much further, using emotions to redefine the way we see. His sense of joy infused his Rose Period. His sadness over the loss of a friend is reflected in his famous Blue Period. His viewing of an African mask made him reexamine his ideas of shape.<br><br>This beautifully illustrated homage is a splendid introduction to modern art.