Dorothea's Eyes

Dorothea's Eyes
By Barb Rosenstock
Illustrated by Gerard DuBois
Calkins Creek an Imprint of Highlights, 2016. Biography.

This picture book biography shares a brief background of how Dorothea Lange became one of the most influential American photographers in history. It tells about her childhood battle with polio, which left her with a limp for the rest of her life, and how she tried to blend in the background because she felt like she was different but also became observant of the world around her. When she was eighteen years old, she ignored the conventions of what was proper for women and became a photographer, putting to use her talent for seeing the world with both her eyes and her heart. Hired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to document the Great Depression, her photograph “Migrant Mother” has become one of the most reproduce photographs of all time, and she developed the style “documentary photography,” using realistic scenes, rather than staged ones, to depict social and political importance.

Though I was not a fan of the illustrations, the style seems to fit this unconventional woman. I did like how the text font and color changed to reflect important statements. Author notes at the back include timeline and further readings for the reader to investigate more into the life of Dorothea Lange.