Book Review: The Tiny Portrait

The Tiny Portrait by Heidi Carla is a wonderful children's book about a brother and sister who find a family treasure in their attic. Tess finds a cased portrait of a young woman with her dog, labelled "Lottie & Pearl" When the portrait begins to fade, Tess and her brother Toby decide they need to find out who Lottie was. Their first clue is the year "1890" on the photograph and then Tess finds Lottie's diary.

Then Tess begins to see Lottie everywhere she goes - a shadowy figure who seems to lead the children to places they need to go to find the answers. The children embark on a journey of discovery - not only finding out who Lottie was but discovering that sometimes the greatest treasure of all is the memories the object invokes. 

Beautifully illustrated with sepia toned photographs done by the author's sister Karla Cinquanta, this book is an enchanting venture into the world of genealogy and early photography. 

My 9 year old grandson looked through The Tiny Portrait and proclaimed it "very interesting" He liked that it was about (in his words) "Family trees" and he loved the photographs. He spent quite a bit of time poring over the illustrations and when I asked him what the appeal was, his answer was "I like the details"

This book is a delightfully creative way for genealogists to introduce children or grandchildren to the world of genealogy. The Tiny Portrait is available on Amazon.

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book for review purposes