The Naked Lady

The title immediately caught the attention of my two grade-school boys; it refers to a statue called Evangelina but "she's not naked," explains her sculptor. "She's nude." A recently widowed artist moves next door to a farm boy and in the end becomes his first art teacher. This is a rich book, deftly covering mourning, creativity, and neighborliness in one small plot. The sculptures are beautiful (and at times adorable), the characters nicely realized and the story held my boys' attention and discussions for several days afterwards. Fabulous last page, too!Highly recommended.