This children's picture book honours young Rosa Bonheur, a realist French painter of the 19th century. A simple fictional account of Rosa's early life, it emphasizes her determination to be an artist when, as a girl, she did not have the right to study art formally. Sent home from a market where she had gone to draw the horses, she changed into boy's clothing and eventually, with persistence, won the right to go there and to dress as she wished. Despite the significant success she achieved as a young woman, her realist work was largely forgotten during the impressionist era. The timeline at the end of the book offers some additional details on her personal and professional life; however, the book contains only one of her paintings and one portrait of the artist. Large, colourful, and sometimes exaggerated illustrations enrich the text and will serve to encourage classroom discussion.

Cautions / Content Warnings: Written in the simple past tense.
Other End Matter: Author's note on the life of Rosa Bonheur
Images: Colour photographs, Colour illustrations, Two reproductions of paintings
Bibliography: No
Index: No

Source: Books BC - BC Books for Schools

Mireille Messier est une autrice jeunesse née à Montréal, qui a grandi à Ottawa et qui habite maintenant à Toronto. Elle a travaillé dans les domaines de la radiodiffusion et du théâtre. Mireille a publié plus de trente livres en français ou en anglais destinés aux enfants de tous les âges, dont l’album Sergent Billy: La vraie histoire du chevreau devenu soldat. Son album Ma branche préférée a été mis en nomination pour les prix Shining Willow, Blue Spruce et pour les Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général du Canada. Avant de devenir autrice, Mireille a été animatrice à la télévision et à la radio, scénariste, critique littéraire — des domaines dans lesquels elle œuvre toujours de temps à autre. Mireille vit à Toronto avec cinq chats, deux oiseaux et plus d’une centaine de poissons rouges (mais pas de chevaux !).

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Anna Bron is an illustrator based out of Vancouver, Canada. She studied traditional hand-drawn animation at Sheridan College and upon graduation embarked on a manifold freelance career, producing award winning children’s picture books, as well as directing and designing numerous short animated films. Her love of the wilderness runs deep in her family, her parents having first met in the Siberian woods. She grew up sleeping in snow caves, climbing mountains, and canoeing rivers and lakes. When she is not drawing, she is exploring the coast mountains of British Colombia. She lives with her partner and two budgies.

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• Nominated, Forest of Reading Le prix Peuplier
• Short-listed, Ontario Chapter IODE Jean Throop Book Award