Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

A good reference book for art history, this was a dense book, definitely best for older readers. The illustrations were almost abstract, with a wide variety of ethnicities and lesser known modern artists being represented. I really liked the illustrations and information. It's a book that readers will come back to again and again as they look up information.

Perfect for children to learn history in an enjoyable way.
The illustrations are good and the book is very interesting and very good research work.

An interesting exploration into art and it’s various forms. A perfect gift for an elementary art teacher or creative child!

We enjoyed exploring art through time and place with this book.

It was refreshing to see different artists and art that aren't the same as every other children's book.

The illustrations are lovely and the information is just enough to get kids interested in learning more.

Book Review: A Whole World of Art: A time-travelling trip through a whole world of art by Sarah Phillips

A Whole World of Art is a beautifully illustrated book that seeks to introduce children to the rich visual canon of art from different cultures and time periods. Authored by art history teacher Dr. Sarah Phillips and illustrated by Dion Mehaga Bangun Djayasaputra, this book takes readers on a captivating journey through 27 destinations in art history, circling the globe.

The book opens with the notion that even before the advent of writing, people were telling stories through pictures. However, the story we know about art is often limited and fails to encompass its global nature. A Whole World of Art aims to rectify this by providing a fresh and inclusive view of art history.

Each spread in the book showcases a stunning and detailed illustration that brings to life an artist or artists creating important artwork within their historical context. Accompanying the illustrations are paragraphs of introductory text and small captions that offer fascinating details about the artists, their lives, and the time and place in which they lived. Furthermore, the book provides art project ideas that inspire creativity and engagement with the featured artworks.

The illustrations in A Whole World of Art are simply breathtaking. They are beautifully rendered, capturing the essence and style of each artist’s work. The attention to detail in the backgrounds adds an extra layer of depth to the visuals, making them truly immersive. It is evident that Dion Mehaga Bangun Djayasaputra’s talent as an artist has brought the stories of art to life in a captivating way.

In terms of content, this book is a treasure trove of information. It provides readers with a wealth of knowledge about the featured artists, their artworks, and the historical context in which they were created. The book goes beyond mere descriptions and delves into the inspirations behind the artworks, offering readers a deeper understanding of the artistic process. Additionally, it highlights where these works of art are currently displayed, which can serve as a starting point for further exploration.

While A Whole World of Art excels in its content and illustrations, one minor issue I found was that the font used throughout the book was slightly small. This may pose a challenge for younger readers or those with visual impairments. However, this does not detract significantly from the overall experience and enjoyment of the book.

In conclusion, A Whole World of Art is a remarkable resource for children who have an interest in both art and history. It successfully introduces readers to diverse art forms from around the world and throughout history. The combination of engaging illustrations, informative text, and art project ideas make this book an invaluable tool for nurturing creativity and expanding cultural knowledge. I wholeheartedly recommend it as a gift for budding artists and history lovers alike. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

Could we please edit this small part 🙃

NASA confirms you cannot see the Great Wall of China from the moon, so that "fact" really needs to be taken out. You can however see it from low orbit, under the right conditions and with the help of the right equipment.

From NASA:

"The visible wall theory was shaken after China's own astronaut, Yang Liwei, said he couldn’t see the historic structure. There was even talk about rewriting textbooks that espouse the theory, a formidable task in the Earth’s most populous nation."

So, the author may have sourced information from a text that still has the myth 🌝

~

I can't speak to any of the other facts throughout, I usually take these books at face value. The book is super cool and super interesting, showcasing so many different cultures and artistic expression from ancient times to now.

A well-intentioned book, but one very clumsy – at least in the digital review copy I saw. One page told of one statue's height in metres, with the next paragraph using feet for another instead. The lie the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon is just yawnsome. And while there's little denying artistic endeavours of countries and civilisations can be lauded, and architecture can be artistic, the book struggles to match artist to anything specific for quite some time.

What we get is a double-paged spread for artistic/cultural highlights throughout the ages, with one paragraph of main text and a 'guess-the-reading-order' batch of factoids dropped willy-nilly elsewhere. Some pages are downright unreadable as a result – you find the artist mentioned by first name only before the most important line much later. Efforts to thrust anti-colonialism and wokeness on the readership can be thought of as a successful breaking of the canon, and the book certainly shows many artists very seldom seen in books for this age range, but at the same time you ignore van Gogh, Degas – indeed the entirety of Impressionism – and so much more. So it's not the standard Western art, and not the standard art book – but those standards work because they work. And either way readability really shouldn't be compromised like it is here.

A Whole World of Art is a fun trip that follows two children as they travel across time to learn art history. Each spread tells the story of a point in time, like Ancient Egypt, and concentrates on one or more art pieces from then. Usually an artist is highlighted, and thankfully, it is not the same artists usually covered in these books. A+ learning for kids and adults!

This compiles a list of major artistic works from around the world. It details a significant work of art from each of several significant cities around the world. It's an interesting and entertaining compilation.

I enjoyed this around-the-world tour of art and its history. Lots of different countries, cultures and time periods covered through different works of art.

Art History becomes accessible for kids in this book by Sarah Phillips. The book is full of facts about each culture and many different prominent artists. Readers will certainly enjoy the photos of famous artwork mixed into beautiful illustrations.

Thank you NetGalley and Wide Eyed Editions for this eCopy to review

I really enjoyed reading A Whole World of Art with my children. We learnt a lot of information about art throughout time and all around the world. The book is very clearly set out with beautiful illustrations and text on each double spread. We particularly enjoyed the fact that it covers the whole world not just the West, so we learnt about different cultures as well

Educational book about art around the world. Alzena and Miles travel the world on each page learning about a specific work of art in different time periods and countries. It begins with the Giza, Ancient Egypt and a bust of Nefertiti (1350 BCE) and ends in Prague with a contemporary work in 2018. I like that it isn’t always traditional famous works. It includes murals, sculptures, and I love that it adds things like stained glass, an atlas and other less common works. It includes work from around the world and isn’t western or Eurocentric as a focus. I appreciated learning about the works and artists some of I have seen in person. I could easily see this is libraries or older elementary classrooms.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions for the temporary ARC and I leaving a voluntary review.

I absolutely would've loved this book as a child, the layout is lovely and bright with facts peppered around. It runs chronologically through time, and areas of the world, giving snippets of art history.

I was pleased to see it's not just a history of Western art, but of the world. This does feel more standard with newer titles, but I think it's worth pointing out so people can see when it isn't the case.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

A wonderful introduction to art for children. Each double spread examines a different era or type of art. There are a number of artists who are less well-known. This makes for an interesting read, rather than a regurgitation of the usual suspects.

A Whole World of Art takes the reader on a time-traveling journey to discover paintings, sculptures, and architecture worldwide. This is different from your typical art history book. It begins in Giza, Ancient Egypt, in 1350 BCE and ends in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2018. Other locations include Japan, Australia, the US, Mexico, Sudan, Nigeria, the UK, Russia, and Guatemala.

I would have loved it if the book contained a map of all the locations, but building one added a lesson in geography and cartography, allowing us to expand our use of the book. We even added building the LEGO Art - The Giant Wave to our lesson plan.

Each location in the book contains a lot of information about the featured artist, their artwork, and similar historical facts, like their inspiration and where the artwork is currently displayed. These facts are broken into 1-2 sentence blurbs to keep the reader's information manageable. The reader can choose how much to learn on each page. Some of these blurbs ask the reader questions like "What or who do you think the artist is painting on the big easel to the left?" or point out parts of the art they may not have noticed. This can lead a child to investigate further and interact more with the artwork.

Overall, this book would be a good addition to a lesson plan on art history or geography. The pages can be read out of order, so if I was learning about Japan, I could read those pages and save the others for another country.

Recommended age: 8-10 years (Elementary school)

Writing style: Short blurbs of information scattered across the page. There isn't a defined order to read them, and all do not need to be read to learn more about the art in the illustrations. They include facts about the artwork and artists and prompts for readers to investigate further or make their own artwork.

Lexile range (unofficial): 810L - 1000L
Sentence length: 5/5
Word frequency: 2/5

Illustration style: Dion MBD seamlessly incorporates photographs of the actual artwork into his vast two-page spreads. He draws the architecture and clothing of each location and time period. The colors match those in the painting, leading to a varied yet toned-down style.

Reality-based: This is a non-fiction art history book exploring art worldwide.

Disclaimer: Thank you, NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions, for this title. All opinions are my own.

A Whole World of Art is a book all about the history of art throughout the world, and what it meant to us throughout history. I really enjoyed reading this book, as I have studied art for many years and as a designer, I thought the layout of the book was amazing! I loved the beautiful illustrations and thought they complemented the book very nicely, and I liked that the text was arranged around each page in small sections so it wasn’t an overload of information but rather fun little facts throughout! I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in the history of art, or just world history in general, as this was a very enjoyable read.

As with all non-fiction books by Quarto Publishing, this is an information packed book full of stunning illustrations. The book covers a wide selection of cities from various countries. For each featured city, it spotlights an artist and a piece of their work. I love how it includes some less commonplace choices.

🎨 This is a great introduction to art through the ages!!!

🖌️ This book follows two young friends – Alzena and Miles – on a time-travel trip through the world of art. Readers will be introduced to ancient pieces (like Nefertiti’s Bust in Egypt) to contemporary pieces (like The Law of the Journey sculpture in the Czech Republic), and many others in between!

🧑‍🎨 The art is quite varied as well. You will see some typical art, such as paintings, sculptures, and murals. But you will also learn about churches, temples, books, scrolls, stamps, columns, calligraphy and more!

📜 The art presented is from around the world, including Japan, UK, Australia, Ghana, Canada, Sudan, US, Mexico, Germany, Turkey, Nigeria, India, Guatemala, and more!

✒️ Each page includes amazing imagery and a ton of information about the art, the artist, cultural information, and other historical facts.

🛕 There is a glossary in the back of the book!! I love glossaries in books for young readers.

🏛️ This book belongs in school and home libraries for sure!

Thank you @Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group/Wide Eyed Editions for an eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.