Katie and the Sunflowers

by James Mayhew

Paperback, 2014

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Collections

Publication

Orchard Books (2014), Edition: UK ed.

Description

While visiting the art museum, Katie has an adventure stepping in and out of five paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Cezanne. Includes information about Post-impressionism and the particular paintings and artists in the story.

User reviews

LibraryThing member crashingwaves38
I absolutely love this book. It wouldn't be a good book to read word-for-word to a young child, but a pre-schooler and kindergartener is sure to love the colors and fanciful events. It's just the kind of book to capture a child's imagination and draw them into a world built upon paintings. It's
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also a decent introduction to the idea of art in general.

Very good book, and I highly recommend it.
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LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
Wonderful book continuing the story of Katie and her adventures. Today she learns about the artists: Van Gogh, Gaugin and Cezanne.
LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
Katie and Grandma are planting their garden when a downpour of rain interrupts. They decide to take a visit to the museum instead where Katie is captured by the beauty of the Vincent van Gogh painting Sunflowers and tries to take a few sunflower seeds for her own garden. But that action sets off a
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chain of reactions and soon she is involved in a madcap adventure throughout the museum, including in and out of its many paintings!

I had previously read Katie and the Starry Night, another book in this series, and had very much enjoyed it so I decided to check this one out also. On the first reading, I didn't like this one quite as much and thought it was a little too much to include the artists' names and the names of the paintings into the story's text. But on a second read, I really enjoyed this book and decided I didn't mind this incorporation that much after all. In fact, when I went back to Katie and the Starry Night, I saw that the painting titles and artists' names had been incorporated in to that book's text, but I guessed it just flowed a little bit so it hadn't stood out to me as much as in this title (the first time around).

The story ends up involving five different paintings by three different artists - Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, and Paul Cezanne. Katie's museum and painting adventures, which include a little dog with a mind of his own, make the pictures come to life and therefore exciting to young kids. The book also ends with an informative note with a little more background on each artist and their connections to each other.

The illustrations are wonderful, depicting the original paintings and then using those settings and characters in new ways to support the story. All in all, I would very much recommend this book to young readers, especially in the context of learning about art (e.g., when about to visit a museum or gallery).
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LibraryThing member mosbor
Katie visits the museum and is magically able to interact with the aret of Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gauguin. The story introduces children to art in a fun, engaging way.
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Of course one must suspend disbelief, which is sometimes difficult for me, but for the sake of this funny little adventure I was able to do so. Mayhew's Katie @ the art museum books are a good way to introduce the youngest members of the family to the idea of looking closely at the pictures,
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imagining the scene as a piece of reality, with a story to tell.
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Language

Original language

English

Physical description

10.83 inches

ISBN

1408332442 / 9781408332443

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