Maya Lin

September 1, 2017
One of the world's most celebrated creators of civic architecture is profiled in this accessible, engaging biography. Similar in style and format to her Everybody Paints!: The Lives and Art of the Wyeth Family (2014) and Wideness and Wonder: The Life and Art of Georgia O'Keeffe (2011), Rubin's well-researched profile examines the career, creative processes, and career milestones of Maya Lin. Rubin discusses at length Lin's most famous achievement, designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Chinese-American Lin was a reserved college student who entered and won the competition to design and build the memorial. Her youth and ethnicity were subjects of great controversy, and Rubin discusses how Lin fought to ensure her vision of the memorial remained intact. Other notable works by Lin, including the Civil Rights Memorial for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, a library and chapel for the Children's Defense Fund, the Museum of Chinese in America, and the outdoor Wave Field project are examined but not in as much depth as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Attractively designed, the book is illustrated extensively with color photos and drawings. An engaging, admiring, and insightful portrait of an uncompromising, civic-minded, visionary artist. (bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 12-15)

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September 11, 2017
Rubin (The Quilts of Gee’s Bend) adds to her catalogue of artist biographies, succinctly chronicling some of the work of architect and artist Maya Lin. Published to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which Lin designed for a competition while still a college student, the book echoes the famed architect’s spare, minimalist style with its compact trim size and simple organizing principal. Headings such as “Granite,” “Water,” and “Wood” denote the building materials Lin used for projects featured in those chapters. “Earth” showcases the Lin’s Wave Field series, swaths of land sculpted to resemble waves. A straightforward, accessible, and mostly chronological narrative details how Lin’s artistic parents and Chinese-American heritage have influenced her. Quotations in enlarged, colorful typeface break up text blocks while providing insight into her design philosophy (“I think of my work as creating a private conversation with each person”), and full-color photographs display several of Lin’s nature-resonating designs. This well-researched biography concludes with an extensive bibliography, source notes, and an index. Ages 10–14.

Starred review from September 1, 2017
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Though she leads, of course, with the Vietnam Veterans Memorialsubmitted to a design competition when Maya Lin was still just a senior at YaleRubin's thorough examination of this modern architect extends far past the memorial for which she is best known. After briefly discussing Lin's childhoodan animal-lover, she grew up in Ohio to academic parents who had both been born in ChinaRubin focuses on Lin's thought process behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the challenges she faced entering into the architecture world as a young Asian woman. From there, she discusses Lin's refusal to be typecast as a monument designer, and the exception she made for the Civil Rights Memorial. Projects less likely to be well known by studentsWave Field, Langston Hughes Library, Riggio-Lynch Chapel, the Confluence Projectare given equal page time. Lin's exploration of her Chinese heritage is examined through her design of the Museum of Chinese in America, images of the Box House showcase her playful side, and her love of animals and conservation is still evident in her ongoing What Is Missing? multimedia project. Compact trim size, color-coded chapters, and frequent glossy photos make this a solid, well-researched, and well-rounded biography of a fascinating woman. A finely designed, endlessly compelling examination of the life and work of one of America's most notable architects.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
This biography of Maya Lin, the contemporary Chinese American artist/architect most famous for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a college student, focuses on the message-forward nature of her work. Rubin's text reads as a fluid narrative, with seamlessly worked-in quotes adding a personal feel. The small-trim book's handsome, clean design showcases the excellent photographs. Bib., ind.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 1, 2017

Gr 4-8-For many, Maya Lin's name is synonymous with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This biography moves beyond that singular project to provide readers with a fuller picture of Lin. Born in the United States to Chinese parents and a "Class A nerd," she never felt that she fit in until college. Rubin incorporates information about Lin's life and family, while putting the primary focus of each chapter on a specific project. Lin's thinking is outlined in each case, whether it is how to help people understand the civil rights movement (the Civil Rights Memorial, Montgomery, AL) or how to raise hopes and spirits with her design for a chapel for the Children's Defense Fund in Clinton, TN. Pages of large text alternate with black-and-white family photos and striking color images of her designs, both as they were taking shape, and upon completed construction. The spare writing style and the book's uncluttered layout provide a reading experience as thoughtful and emotionally connected as one of Lin's installations. The narrative represents the artist's body of work from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to her current involvement with What Is Missing?, a project bringing attention to endangered species. VERDICT Thoughtfully written and visually engaging, this biography is a must for elementary and middle school libraries.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.