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Description
Award-winning picture book biographer Jeanne Walker Harvey tells the story of the renowned architect I. M. Pei and his triumph in redesigning the Louvre through problem-solving and persistence.
In 1981, I. M. Pei was on a mission. A successful architect known for his modern designs, Pei was asked by the French president to redesign the Louvre Museum in Paris, home to the Mona Lisa and now famous for the glass pyramid at its center. At the time, the Louvre had many problems and no pyramid.
Pei faced many obstacles, including discrimination because he was Chinese American. Determined to succeed and make the Louvre a welcome place for all, Pei worked hard--and sometimes in secret. This is the story of a visionary who worked patiently and persistently to solve problems and achieve his goals: to plant and grow a glass pyramid.
Publication date
May 27, 2025
Genre
Fiction
Page Count
40
ISBN-13
9781665953337
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
BISAC categories
JNF007000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | General JNF005000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Architecture JNF018020 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - Asian American
Library of Congress categories
Picture books Architecture Art museums Chinese Americans Musaee du Louvre Pei, I. M., 1917-2019 Louvre (Museum)
Kirkus
A clear view into an extraordinary achievement from a legendary architect
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review
Architect I.M. Pei (1917-2019) believed that "success is a collection of problems solved," and designing the Louvre’s now-iconic glass pyramid entrance put that philosophy to the ultimate test. In spare, rhythmic prose and digital illustrations that combine architectural elements with vector-like precision, Walker Harvey and Le weave together Pei’s biography and the pyramid’s creation story. When approaching the project-designed to solve a serious number of visitor flow issues-Pei understands that a purely utilitarian solution won’t suffice. The architect finds inspiration in the rock gardens of his family’s retreat in China as well as the geometric Gardens of Versailles, but the pyramid’s design proves only half the challenge. Pei also faces fierce opposition that he approaches via patience and a partnership with Paris’s mayor, a tack that shows how enduring solutions often emerge from a confluence of expertise, imagination, and persuasion.
Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Jeanne Walker Harvey is the author of several picture books, including Boats on the Bay, as well as the well-received picture book biographies Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas and Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines. She lives in Sonoma, California. Melodie Stacey is a fine artist and illustrator whose work can be found in the picture book Beautiful Useful Things. She lives in Brighton, United Kingdom.
