From AudioFile
This 1965 publication won a Newbery Medal and top awards in England and France. De Trevino's masterpiece is enhanced by Ward's glorious narration. The colorful text is presented so artistically that simply listening to all of the different voices and accents is a great pleasure. Juan is an African slave who assists Spanish painter Vel‡zquez and himself becomes an accomplished artist in spite of the prohibition against a slave learning to paint. The diverse European accents, as well as Juan's African speech patterns as a child and an adult, are masterfully recreated. The book closes very interestingly with de Trevino explaining the art of creating a biography. S.G.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
"An excellent novel, written in the form of an autobiography, about the painter Vel†zquez and his Negro slave and assistant, Juan de Pareja...[who] was legally prohibited from painting because he was a slave." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books



Review
"An excellent novel, written in the form of an autobiography, about the painter Vel†zquez and his Negro slave and assistant, Juan de Pareja...[who] was legally prohibited from painting because he was a slave." --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books



Book Description
A Newberry Medal Book
An ALA Notable Book
A New York Times Best Juvenile Book of the Year

Juan is the slave of the great Spanish painter Diego Valazquez and helps his master in his studio by preparing paints and stretching canvases. But Juan is an artist, too: he has taught himself by watching his master's technique. Although such work is forbidden by slaves, Jaun cannot keep his secret any longer.What will happen when the truth is known?

FROM THE PUBLISHER