Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

Somewhere in Brooklyn, a little boy dreams of being a famous artist, not knowing that one day he would make himself a king.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. However, before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games, in the words that we speak and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own style introduces young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean - and definitely not inside the lines - to be beautiful.

Javaka Steptoe is an artist, designer, and illustrator. His debut picture book,
In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall, won the Coretta Scott King Award, and
Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow (written by Gary Golio) received a Coretta Scott King Honor. He has also illustrated
Do You Know What I'll Do? by Charlotte Zolotow,
A Pocketful of Poems by Nikki Grimes,
Amiri and Odette: A Love Story by Walter Dean Myers,
Rain Play by Cynthia Cotten, and
Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English, which received the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. He is also the author and illustrator of
The Jones Family Express. Javaka invites you to visit his website at Javaka.com.