Art Expressing Pain, Discovery & Hope.

Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery & Hope. Harold S. Koplewicz, MD and Robin F. Goodman, A.T.R, editors. New York: Harry N. Abrams (212-206-7715) 1999. Illus., hardcover. 160 pp., $35.00.

In a foreword, Katie Couric, one of many celebrities who have contributed comments and observations, states that this book is for any parent in the midst of a divorce, who has a physically ill or abused child, or who has a child with a learning difference, behavior problem, or psychiatric illness. That statement could be expanded to include the art teachers who work with those children. The premise of this book is not new, since Freud identified projective techniques as "a process of ascribing one's own drives, feelings and sentiments to other people or to the outside world" in 1896. 103 full-color illustrations of children's drawings and paintings supported by current information on problems of depression, divorce, learning differences, physical illness and other disorders, effectively serve to increase the reader's understanding of these matters. The children's paintings selected for this book are powerful, provocative and, often, quite artful. Titles such as The Frighteness in My Life, Angry, Chaos Education, My Scariest Memories of My Dad, Confusion, and other similar, testify to the deeply felt expressions of the young artist. A valuable introductory chapter titled Guide for the Reader provides clarifying answers to such questions as What to Think About the Art, How to Look at the Art, Art that Reveals, The Art of a Child and Different Art Materials, Different Art. The intelligently written text concerning eleven different disorders ranging from Eating Disorders to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder should increase awareness about the one in eight children in our classrooms who are victims of these disorders. Recommended for personal libraries of art educators at all levels.