Some­times we find, in a book, a dra­ma behind the dra­ma. In Neil Waldman’s new book, there are two such dra­mas, and for­tu­nate­ly, a com­e­dy. First there is the ongo­ing bat­tle between his moth­er and father — fights so fero­cious that even behind closed doors they cause their chil­dren to trem­ble. Then there is the com­e­dy of a charm­ing, jovial, whim­si­cal grand­fa­ther who could always be count­ed on for com­pan­ion­ship, adven­ture, imag­i­na­tion and a cer­tain sangfroid. And last, but most impor­tant­ly, there is the devel­op­ment of the artis­tic sen­si­bil­i­ty. From where did it emanate? As a means of escape from their par­ents’ tirades, sure­ly; but the lyri­cism of the art, the inspi­ra­tion, the children’s pro­fi­cien­cy, from where did they come? This is what Wald­man has set out to explore and share with his many read­ers and admir­ers. His moth­er evi­dent­ly loved art. She had brought with her on the boat from Rus­sia, a trea­sured book from an art muse­um in Rus­sia — ​”a book whose soft vel­vet cov­er and shim­mer­ing gold­en title drew the young boy to it like a mag­net.” It was in this book that he first dis­cov­ered the work of Vin­cent Van Gogh, an artist whose oeu­vre would be a last­ing influ­ence upon him. Sud­den­ly, Neil knew this is what he want­ed to do when he grew up. This encounter, how­ev­er would trans­form the lives of all four Wald­man chil­dren. They came from a fam­i­ly that already con­tained a tal­ent­ed artist, his aunt Jean Morris. 

The recog­ni­tion of beau­ty as adven­ture was nour­ished by his Grand­fa­ther Mey­er, whose accent is per­fect­ly rep­re­sent­ed in the book, and who not only took him to the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Muse­um of Art, but also to the hid­den won­ders of Bronx Park, an island of beau­ty among the trol­ley cars and pave­ment of his East Bronx neigh­bor­hood. And final­ly, there is the art, itself, prodi­gious­ly rep­re­sent­ed in this book, art by all four Wald­man chil­dren. When we won­der how did a well-known celebri­ty or accom­plished per­son get from there to where he or she is today, this book affords us a mar­velous insight. Writ­ten in an infor­mal, con­ver­sa­tion­al man­ner and enriched with full col­or repro­duc­tions, it is a wor­thy addi­tion to anyone’s library, but par­tic­u­lar­ly as a gift. Ages 12 and up.