"Ann Pelo's The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings appears in its updated second edition to provide a set of Reggio-based principles and practices for teachers in the arts. Pair a powerful theoretical framework with a curriculum approach that uses the studio arts environment to explore texture, color, shapes, and different perspectives and you have an early education title that shows how studios can be created to encourage young artists to absorb some art basics."
California Bookwatch: The Education Shelf

I often wonder whether new editions are worth reading, especially when the first one is a winner. YES, YES! This is a must have 2nd edition of an invaluable book.
While this new edition continues to offer teachers a wealth of examples for using art media as tools for inquiry, you’ll find deeper understandings of how the language of art expands children’s ability to pay attention to details, communicate, participate in conversations about ideas, question, collaborate, and take new perspectives. And, you’ll have further help thinking through the teacher’s role in this process, with suggestions to guide your experimentation, your documentation, and reflections on what you are learning.
And, while the language of art indeed cultivates 21st Century Skills, we must heed Pelo’s important reminder that in this prescriptive and assessment driven era, “Art has many purposes, but serving as a conduit for assessment is not one…We can take up art as an expression of our participation in life.”
Harvest Resource Associates

This splendid book contains a wide range of suggestions for introducing young children to paint, drawing materials, clay, loose parts, and wire as resources for aesthetic discovery. It is structured in a useful way for each material—going from getting launched, setting up, exploring and creating, cleaning up, and finally documentation and display. My favorite aspect was the discussion of the teacher’s role as partner and guide, with suggested words the teacher might easily use. These modeled an open, sparkling, respectful, complex, and multifaceted way of interacting with children.
University of Nebraska Lincoln