Books About Art

This assortment of study guides focuses on the arts, from cinema to cuisine. Read on to explore Aristotle’s Poetics, which analyzes the nature and uses of poetry; An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski, a manual for actors based on the author’s work and teachings at the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia; and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which chronicles the art of fine dining.

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Aging, Identity: Gender, Relationships: Family

Tags Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Class, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Modern Classic Fiction, Arts / Culture

Merci Suárez Changes Gears (2018), a contemporary middle-grade novel by Meg Medina, centers on a young girl facing major changes to her family dynamics. The book won numerous awards, including the 2019 Newbery Medal. Medina, a founding member of the “We Need Diverse Books” movement, has written many picture books, young adult books, and middle-grade novels about strong girls who overcome adversity and step up to challenges.Plot SummaryEleven-year-old Merci Suárez is the child of Cuban... Read Merci Suárez Changes Gears Summary


Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family

Tags Realistic Fiction, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction, Arts / Culture

Danny Lopez arrives in National City, a suburb just south of San Diego. The area’s proximity to the border makes it heavily Hispanic. Danny has come to spend the summer with his father’s family while his mother and sister are in San Francisco with his mother’s new boyfriend.From the start, it’s clear Danny does not fit in. He is from a beach community in northern San Diego County,where he plays baseball and attends Leucadia Prep... Read Mexican WhiteBoy Summary


Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, Race / Racism, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Children's Literature, History: World, Arts / Culture


Publication year 2003

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Society: Nation, Identity: Disability

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Health / Medicine, Grief / Death, History: World, Arts / Culture


Publication year 2023

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Gender, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Race

Tags Arts / Culture, Gender / Feminism, Philosophy


Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Art

Tags Music, Arts / Culture, Grief / Death, Travel Literature


Publication year 2017

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Society: Class, Identity: Sexuality, Society: Community, Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Art, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Mothers, Identity: Race, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Fathers

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ, Arts / Culture


Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Art, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Gender, Life/Time: The Future, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Teams, Society: Globalization, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality

Tags Historical Fiction, Middle Eastern Literature, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Asian Literature, History: World, Arts / Culture

My Name is Red (originally titled Benim Adim Kirmizi) is a 1998 historical novel by the Nobel Prize winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. Set in late-16th century Istanbul, the novel explores cultural tensions stemming from contemporary philosophical understandings of visual art. Told from the viewpoints of many different animate and inanimate characters—including Muslim and Jewish individuals, a corpse, the color red, and paintings of a horse, a devil, and a dog—the novel integrates elements of... Read My Name is Red Summary


Publication year 1966

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Identity: Femininity, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Fame, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Literature, Identity: Gender

Tags Lyric Poem, Arts / Culture, Gender / Feminism, American Literature, Confessional


Publication year 1789

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Animals

Tags Romanticism / Romantic Period, Religion / Spirituality, History: World, Arts / Culture


Publication year 1983

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Society: Colonialism, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Society: Community, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Emotions/Behavior: Hope

Tags Women's Studies (Nonfiction), Education, Education, History: U.S., Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Religion / Spirituality, American Literature, Anthropology, Anthropology, History: World, Arts / Culture


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Marriage, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Literature

Tags Psychological Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Arts / Culture, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Art

Tags Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Arts / Culture


Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Siblings, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Community, Relationships: Teams

Tags Military / War, Historical Fiction, Arts / Culture, Realistic Fiction, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Sports, African Literature


Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Fate, Society: Nation, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Fear

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Arts / Culture, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Depression / Suicide, History: U.S., Mental Illness, History: World


Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Fate

Tags Psychological Fiction, Natural Disaster, Modern Classic Fiction, Asian Literature, Indian Literature, Arts / Culture

Published in 2010, novelist and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s One Amazing Thing tells the story of nine people from diverse backgrounds who become trapped inside the visa office of the Indian Consulate after a major earthquake hits. As they wait for help to arrive, each person takes a turn telling a story from their own life, often revealing feelings or tales previously unshared. Told in third-person perspective from the point of view of each character... Read One Amazing Thing Summary


Publication year 1976

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: The Past, Identity: Language

Tags Lyric Poem, American Literature, Arts / Culture, LGBTQ, Classic Fiction, Biography

Throughout her life, Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) suffered many losses. Her father died before her first birthday and her mother entered a mental institution when Bishop was only five, leaving her to the guardianship of maternal and paternal grandparents. Later, Bishop’s lover committed suicide in Brazil, prompting Bishop’s return to the US. “One Art” (1976) alludes to several of these prominent losses, though the poem objectively approaches loss. “One Art” defines loss as a special form... Read One Art Summary


Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family

Tags Historical Fiction, Children's Literature, Realistic Fiction, History: World, Arts / Culture

One Crazy Summer, a Coretta Scott King Book Award winner and National Book Award nominee, is a historical novel for children that was published in 2009 by Rita Williams-Garcia. Other works by this author include P.S. Be Eleven, Like Sisters on the Homefront, and Clayton Byrd Goes Underground.This guide is based on the 2009 Amistad/HarperCollins Kindle edition. Set in 1968, the novel describes what happens when Delphine Gaither and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and... Read One Crazy Summer Summary


Publication year 2002

Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Art, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Language, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Midlife, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Food, Relationships: Mothers, Self Discovery, Society: Class, Society: Education, Society: Immigration, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Literature

Tags Humor, Arts / Culture, Biography

One! Hundred! Demons! is a semi-autobiographical genre-defying graphic novel by American cartoonist and pedagogue, Lynda Barry. Over the course of her career as a prominent cartoonist with nationally syndicated comic strips, published collections, and illustrated novels, Barry has received many national and state-wide awards for her work, including two Eisner awards and MacArthur Genius Grant.Originally published serially in Salon magazine, the collected cartoon chapters were collected and published by Sasquatch Books in 2002, and later... Read One! Hundred! Demons! Summary