{"id":425,"date":"2018-12-31T12:14:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=425"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:14:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:14:46","slug":"lone-star-book-reviews-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=425","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
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Cathey Graham Nickell<\/span> of Bellaire, Texas, a former public relations professional and mother of four, does not drive an art car herself, but she loves snapping photographs whenever she spots one.<\/p>\n

Although Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car<\/span> is Nickell\u2019s first children\u2019s book, she has also has written a nonfiction volume, the sixty-year history of the Institute for Spirituality and Health, a nonprofit organization in the Texas Medical Center. Uniting Faith, Medicine and Healthcare<\/span> (2012), serves as a marketing\/fundraising piece for the Institute; it was revised for a second printing in 2015.<\/p>\n

Nickell is a member of the Society of Children\u2019s Book Writers and Illustrators, the Houston Writers Guild, and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. She graduated from Baylor University in 1985 and received a master of arts degree from Louisiana State University\u2013Sheveport in 2013.<\/p>\n

www.catheynickell.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Megenhardt<\/span> is a graphic illustrator living in Houston, Texas, with more than twenty illustrated books to date to his credit.<\/p>\n

studiomegenhardt.blogspot.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS \/ ART<\/span><\/p>\n

Cathey Graham Nickell<\/span><\/p>\n

with illustrations by Bill Megenhardt<\/span><\/p>\n

Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty-Eight Creative, February 2016<\/p>\n

978-0996115001, hardcover, 40 pages, with color illustrations, $19.99<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/span>Houston, Texas,<\/span> as Cathey Graham Nickell\u2019s<\/span> informative afterword to Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car<\/span><\/a><\/span> tells us, nearly three decades ago started the nation\u2019s first official parade for art cars. Or artcars,<\/span> if you\u2019re among the enthusiasts who\u2019d like to see this art-fusion compound fused for all time in your Merriam-Webster\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to know anything about Houston\u2019s Orange Show, or have ever attended an art car parade, or have ever seen, ridden in, or driven an art car to appreciate Nickell\u2019s delightful fable about the transforming power of creativity.<\/p>\n

Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car<\/span> is also delightfully, and skillfully, illuminated with Houston illustrator Bill Megenhardt\u2019s<\/span> graphite drawings. In an age when so many illustrated books are produced by machine, with digital techniques, rather than by hand, it\u2019s refreshing to let the eye linger on richly crosshatched shadings and texturings and to discover minute features of the caricatures such as Mr. Zarr\u2019s nautical-motif tie. Back to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

Nickell\u2019s book embodies a simple message that all ages can appreciate: that even the tiniest gesture of originality begets others, and that an acorn-adorned grille of a plain, boxy automobile can sprout first into whimsy, then friendship, then attention, cooperation, community, and ultimately happiness. But its message bears deeper consideration. What art, and why does it satisfy on multiple levels? Are the venues of creative expression limited to gallery walls and textbooks? Must art always be serious and high\u2014or can it also be playful and accessible? What differentiates craft from art?<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s protagonist, the gray-haired, trim-mustached, and lonely Mr. Zarr, is himself a competent craftsman with a neatly arranged workbench (twenty-first-century children can be taught to identify brace drill and wood chisel and bench vise) and tidy yard (well, there was that stray dandelion springing up). But it is the impulse toward art\u2014the aha moment of appreciating a thing of unexpected beauty and incorporating it in his everyday life\u2014that sets him on the road to redemption. In his series of decisions to accept kindness and juxtapose serendipity with a quietly regimented life, Mr. Zarr grows from his grisaille existence into a citizen of a diverse, polychromed neighborhood.<\/p>\n

And if you appreciated panalphabetic sentence, you\u2019ll appreciate even more the abecedary with which Mr. Zarr enhances his car. Nickell\u2019s book is a treat for sight, sound, and sense, for readers and artcarfans (no, you won\u2019t find the word in your dictionary just yet, anyway) of all levels.<\/p>\n

Visit www.catheynickell.com<\/a><\/span> to learn more.<\/p>\n

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Retail outlets in the Houston area<\/span> carrying Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car<\/span> include The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, the Beer Can House gift shop, Brazos Bookstore, the Jung Center, Bering\u2019s, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.<\/p>\n

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Lone Star Book Reviews of Texas books appear weekly at LoneStarLiterary.com Cathey Graham Nickell of Bellaire, Texas, a former public relations professional and mother of four, does not drive an art car herself, but she loves snapping photographs whenever she spots one. Although Arthur Zarr\u2019s Amazing Art Car is Nickell\u2019s first children\u2019s book, she has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}