GEORGIA O'KEEFFE

One of America's most popular artists is introduced for early readers in the On My Own Biographies series. Lowery (Laurie Tells, 1994, etc.) does well in presenting O'Keeffe in simple language that captures the feelings of self- doubt and courage that were requisite for the young artist to break away from accepted styles and paint what was in her head. The book opens with O'Keeffe's staring at the stark desert of New Mexico, then flashes back to her earlier life as an art teacher. Her childhood in Wisconsin is covered only in an entry in the chronology. Her rather extraordinary marriage to Alfred Stiegletz is dealt with in a few brief sentences, although the scene in which he encounters O'Keeffe's abstract work for the first time is given strong dramatic weight (it launched her career as an artist). It is not easy to write simply well, but Lowery makes this a literary experience as well as a learning one. Newcomer Draper's illustrations portray the story of the woman well, admirably attempting renderings of O'Keeffe's best-known works in the backgrounds. Still, it's always a disappointment when no reproductions of an artist's work are included; this book has only a small black-and-white photo of O'Keeffe in front of one of her skull paintings at the end. (chronology) (Biography. 5-9)