2025 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Art

It’s April first and the first day of the 2025 Blogging A to Z Challenge! This year, I’m sharing all children’s nonfiction titles. And I know, before you say, what the heck is she thinking?!?!? I promise you, children’s nonfiction books are some of the coolest books on the market these days! They are interactive, engaging, and fun, plus you get to learn some cool facts while you’re at it. So, let’s get started, each day I’ll be sharing a different themed based on a letter of the alphabet. Each book list will include twelve titles for kids from babies to teens. By the end of the month, you’ll have 312 different nonfiction titles to check out. Learn more about the different types of nonfiction you’ll find throughout the month from this post.

Today, it’s all about art. And this isn’t surprising at all. I was this close to becoming an art history minor in undergrad, but I didn’t get enough credits before I graduated. I have always loved art and learning about art movements and artists. Today’s books also include some titles on architecture and music (don’t worry, I saved dance for later in the alphabet). If you’ve got an art museum or live music venue near you, even a small one, take your kids, if you can afford it (or check for pay as you can days!). Kids need to experience all sorts of things to learn and grow – what better way than to learn through art and music?!?!

Learn about artists you might be familiar with, artists you’ve never heard of, and definitely check out the book on the Mona Lisa – it’s a fascinating read! Let me know what types of nonfiction you enjoy in the comments below!

2025 Blogging A to Z Challenge: Art

42 Artists Everyone Should Know

Brimming with color, information, and inspiration, this beautifully designed volume spans 5 centuries, highlighting 42 of the most influential and important artists of all time.

Arranged chronologically, it includes:

• Multi-page spreads that feature brief biographies, career highlights, and luminous reproductions of major works of each artist.
• In addition to widely known figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Picasso, young readers will learn about women artists such as Sofonisba Anguissola, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frida Kahlo, and Yayoi Kusama, and artists of color such as Jacob Lawrence, and Jean- Michel Basquiat.
• The wide-ranging selection also includes a variety of genres: including graffiti artist Banksy, photographer Cindy Sherman, Op-artist Bridget Riley, scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian, and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.
• Running across the bottom of each page, a timeline highlighting world- shaping events helps contextualize the artists’ achievements on a global scale.

A perfect introduction to great art, this book invites young readers to explore the rich tapestry of history’s greatest artists and find inspiration in their stories.

100 Things to Know About Art by Susie Hodge, illustrated by Marcos Farina

Along with some classic methods, such as painting and sketching, you’ll also discover less predictable aspects of art that will give you a fresh perspective. Featuring materials, elements, methods, art movements, styles, and places this book covers a wide range of topics and themes, as well as some key artists of the past and present. With a clean, contemporary design, each word occupies a page of its own. A large striking illustration neatly encapsulates the accompanying 100 words of text.

A Is For Art Museum by Katy Friedland, illustrated by Marla K. Shoemaker

An art museum is a magical place. What will you find inside? This playful primer features 37 full-color illustrations of paintings, sculpture, tapestries, prints, photographs, and installations from the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Children can learn their ABCs while discovering the beauty of a bridge by Monet, a dancer by Degas, a medieval knight’s helmet, a Japanese teahouse, and other wonders from around the world.

Art All Around Us: A Kid’s Guide to Finding Art in Everyday by Xiao Situ

Art is not just the paintings and sculptures we see in museums, but also things that surround us every day—family photos, decorations used during holidays or celebrations, even quilts and furniture that inhabit our homes. Throughout human history, people have created all kinds of objects to express who they are and what’s important to them. Art All Around introduces young readers to some of the most vibrant and compelling art and artifacts from around the world.

Increasingly, art historians are moving beyond a linear, chronological approach to teaching that has prioritized the Western canon and limited artworks to paintings and sculpture. Instead, they are exploring how objects across different mediums, cultures, and time periods produce “conversations” and connections within a broader web of global art.

Atlas of Amazing Architecture by Peter Allen

This atlas of architectural wonders eschews the classic children’s book fare of the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal, and instead takes a broader view of what constitutes amazing architecture. Buildings include: the Jameh mosque of Isfahan in Iran, Native American plank houses in New Mexico, Stave Churches in Norway, The Djinguereber Mosque in Mali, and extraordinary 18th century wooden churches on Kizhi Island, Russia.

Over 50 buildings span all the continents equally throughout history. Each of these buildings is visually striking and architecturally noteworthy; they introduce new engineering technologies or define a movement or capture the essence of a moment in human history. However, despite their significance, they are, for the most part, not part of the main Western architectural canon.

This book seeks out a more diverse, inclusive approach to what constitutes amazing architecture, and presents it with fresh illustration and clear, punchy text.

Children’s Book of Music

Discover the power of music and be inspired by cultures from all over the world with this extensive children’s guide. This book is the perfect introduction for young readers to the world of music and celebrates music from every continent!

Children aged 9+ can find out how instruments are made and played, and learn about the fascinating lives and achievements of great composers and musicians, from Bach to Bowie, Bjork and Beyoncé. All the essential information about music is covered, including the major movements, composers, instruments and techniques.

A History of Pictures for Children: From Cave Paintings to Computer Drawings by David Hockney and Martin Gayford

From cave paintings to video games, this book shows how and why pictures have been made, linking art to the human experience. David Hockney and Martin Gayford explain each piece of art in the book, helping young minds to grasp difficult concepts. The book tracks the many twists and turns toward artistic invention, allowing readers to fully appreciate how and why art has changed and includes an illustrated timeline of inventions. Original illustrations by Rose Blake add a personal perspective on a wide variety of images.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist

On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!

No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Or was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting?

Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all.

Music and How it Works: The Complete Guide for Kids

Budding music fans will love discovering musical geniuses of every era, from Mozart and classical music to Bowie and pop, as well as finding out how music is created and what links it all together.

The book looks at music throughout history, beginning with the first known melody from the Fertile Crescent and covering modern music phenomena, from K Pop to hip-hop. Instruments and genres from across the world are featured, with “playlists” of key pieces encouraging kids to look up pieces to hear for themselves. STEAM spreads delve into the psychology and math behind music, from how it affects our mood to how it can improve our minds.

Covering India’s Ragas, Indonesia’s Gamelan, Japan’s city pop, and more, this book will help children discover a love of music.

The Story of Paintings: A History of Art for Children by Mick Manning, illustrated by Brita Granström

Get ready to feast your eyes on an exhibition of fantastic art! Kids can time-travel through the centuries and learn all about 39 paintings, from a galloping horse drawn in the Lascaux Caves during the Stone Age, to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Velázquez’s Las Meninas, to masterpieces by Dalí, Picasso, Kahlo, and Basquiat. Each spread showcases a different painting, along with a profile of the artist, kid-friendly cartoons, and fun prompts that encourage children to ask questions (like, “What do you think Mona Lisa is smiling about?”) and spot details in each work.

The Very Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Tim Lihoreau and Philip Noyce, illustrated by Olga Baumert

Tune up and take your seat – the orchestra is about to begin!

Introduce the maestro-in-making in your life to orchestral music. Follow Ava and Jayden on a magical journey as they discover the instruments of the orchestra and explore beautiful scenes inspired by the music. Young readers can discover instruments from the violin to the trumpet, and learn about the composers and their dazzling pieces. The spreads tell the story of the classical tune, while the sound button brings it to life.

What Can Colors Do? by Liz Yohlin Baill

There’s a rainbow of ways to think about colors. Colors pop and shine. Cool colors make us shiver, while warm colors heat us up. They can even express our moods, from feeling blue to being tickled pink. What Can Colors Do? introduces children to color through vibrant artworks that inspire curiosity, joy, and surprise in young learners.

Colorful paintings, sculptures, and objects from the Philadelphia Museum of Art help children think about how artists use color. How can colors express feelings? Can a color be loud or soft? As children learn the basics of color theory, from mixing to contrast and color wheels, they answer engaging, thoughtful questions that bring the world of art and their own experiences together. A series of activities for kids to complete on their own—from a scavenger hunt to a color-inspired way to meditate—helps them to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the hues around us.

2025 is my tenth year participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge! This year, I chose as my theme:  Fact Finders Club: Nonfiction for Curious Kids with a focus on providing book lists focused on all types of nonfiction books for readers from birth to teens. Each letter of the alphabet will focus on different topics and will provide twelve titles on each list. Nonfiction is having a heyday in children’s literature and if you think it’s dry and boring, then I implore you to take a look at these amazing suggestions! Stop by daily to check out the new books and other posts that I’ll be sharing in April.