Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrap the World: The Story of Two Groundbreaking Environmental Artists
by G. Neri; illus. by Elizabeth Haidle
Primary    Candlewick    48 pp.
4/23    9781536216615    $18.99

In his author’s note, Neri (When Paul Met Artie, rev. 3/18) mentions that he met Christo and Jeanne-Claude briefly in the early 2000s and was able to interview Christo before the artist’s 2020 death. This enlightening picture-book biography is infused with the author’s respect for the unorthodox couple and their artistic legacy. The book focuses on the husband and wife’s symbiotic creative partnership. As Neri tells it, when Jeanne-Claude first encounters Christo’s small-scale (at the time) wrapped sculptures, her questions could be our own: “Why are you wrapping these silly objects in cloth and rope?” As she comes to understand Christo’s vision and mission, readers do too. The dialogue-heavy text itself is a creative risk that pays off. Neri explains that, while some dialogue is from quotations, “as a narrative device, I’ve put their ideas into the context of a conversation to illustrate their back-and-forth…and highlight the concepts they played with.” Haidle’s (Before They Were Artists) energetic mixed-media illustrations in an understated earth-tone palette help convey the interactive spirit of the text and reflect art’s relationship with the natural world. Read alongside Boxer’s Covered in Color: Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s Fabrics of Freedom (rev. 11/22); each book brings a different approach to its subjects. A bibliography and “fun facts” about the artists are appended. (Source notes for the quotations are listed on the author’s website.)

From the March/April 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.