A Portrait in Poems: The Storied Life of Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas by Evie Robillard, Rachel Katstaller
ISBN: 1525300563
Genres: Biography/Autobiography
Format: Picture Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

This book uses spare, free-verse poems that relate the fascinating lives of Gertrude Stein and her partner, Alice B. Toklas. It playfully begins with “The next time you go to Paris …” The book concentrates largely on Stein’s domestic life, describing how she and her brother Leo famously collected paintings by Matisse, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Picasso. I think a more conventional narrative format would have been a more interesting choice. Plus, I wanted to know more about what happened to the paintings and about Alice. The Time Line, Snap Shots, and Author’s Note at the end were most interesting.

Reviewed by Barb Rehmeyer, Liberty Library