Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collections
Publication
Scholastic (1999), 32 pages
Description
On a visit to the museum, Katie climbs into five Impressionist paintings and has wonderful adventures.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mopbroek07
Stars: Theme
Age: Primary, Intermediate
This book is a good example of modern fantasy because a young girl could not enter into paintings in reality. While Katie and her interactions with people are realistic, the fact that the people she meets are parts of paintings makes the book a fantasy.
Age: Primary, Intermediate
This book is a good example of modern fantasy because a young girl could not enter into paintings in reality. While Katie and her interactions with people are realistic, the fact that the people she meets are parts of paintings makes the book a fantasy.
LibraryThing member efakkema09
Summary: Katie loves visiting the art museum with her grandmother because she is never sure what she is going to find there. One day, on a visit to the museum, Katie discovers that she can climb inside the paintings and visit their creators, from Monet to Renoir to Degas and interact with the
Genre: Fantasy
Media: watercolo
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people they had painted. Genre: Fantasy
Media: watercolo
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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin
Katie and her grandmother decide to visit the art museum for Grandma's birthday. While there, Katie desires to pick the flowers she sees in a painting so that she can have a gift for Grandma's birthday. She finds that she can climb in and out of different paintings, having various adventures as she
I had previously read two other titles in the Katie series by James Mayhew, and I like this one best of all. (I also believe it's the first in the series, although you don't need to read them in any order to understand them.) One of the things I appreciated a lot about this book is the interaction in the beginning between Katie and her grandmother in which the latter explains the concept of the Impressionistic style to Katie. It's not preachy, didactic, or full of jargon, but it helps young reader to understand something about art. The book later introduces words like palettes, canvases, and portraits, which an older child may use context clues to decode or an adult could define for a younger reader. As with other titles in the series, this book ends with a brief one-page note providing more information about Impressionism as well as the specific artists and paintings featured in the story.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the joyful interactions between Katie and Jean, the young boy she sees in one painting. Jean is the son of famous Impressionist painter Claude Monet, and his introduction in to the book not only provides a peer companion for Katie but also gives children an understanding that a painter is a person just like them with a family and a life outside of their canvases, rather than leaving the young readers with some broad and vague idea of a shadowy figure cloistered away somewhere doing nothing but painting all day long.
As Edgar Degas is one of my favorite artists, I of course loved the addition of one of his dancers paintings into the book. This also flowed well with the story and all of Katie's grand adventures at the museum. It was fun to see Katie interacting with two paintings in quick succession seemingly within a single frame, as many of the Impressionistic painters did travel in the same circles and paint similar scenes, each with their own unique flair.
The illustrations in this book, as with the other titles in the series, are absolutely excellent. The actual paintings are replicated wonderfully and then those backdrops and figures are added to appropriately with the new characters and scenarios imagined by the author.
All in all, I definitely recommend this title, especially if you are interested in fine art and want to introduce a bit of art history to the children in your life. But even if you or your child are not particularly interested in art, this is still a fun and fantastical romp featuring a little girl ready to explore and engage in many adventures.
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tries to find the perfect bouquet of flowers for Grandma.I had previously read two other titles in the Katie series by James Mayhew, and I like this one best of all. (I also believe it's the first in the series, although you don't need to read them in any order to understand them.) One of the things I appreciated a lot about this book is the interaction in the beginning between Katie and her grandmother in which the latter explains the concept of the Impressionistic style to Katie. It's not preachy, didactic, or full of jargon, but it helps young reader to understand something about art. The book later introduces words like palettes, canvases, and portraits, which an older child may use context clues to decode or an adult could define for a younger reader. As with other titles in the series, this book ends with a brief one-page note providing more information about Impressionism as well as the specific artists and paintings featured in the story.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the joyful interactions between Katie and Jean, the young boy she sees in one painting. Jean is the son of famous Impressionist painter Claude Monet, and his introduction in to the book not only provides a peer companion for Katie but also gives children an understanding that a painter is a person just like them with a family and a life outside of their canvases, rather than leaving the young readers with some broad and vague idea of a shadowy figure cloistered away somewhere doing nothing but painting all day long.
As Edgar Degas is one of my favorite artists, I of course loved the addition of one of his dancers paintings into the book. This also flowed well with the story and all of Katie's grand adventures at the museum. It was fun to see Katie interacting with two paintings in quick succession seemingly within a single frame, as many of the Impressionistic painters did travel in the same circles and paint similar scenes, each with their own unique flair.
The illustrations in this book, as with the other titles in the series, are absolutely excellent. The actual paintings are replicated wonderfully and then those backdrops and figures are added to appropriately with the new characters and scenarios imagined by the author.
All in all, I definitely recommend this title, especially if you are interested in fine art and want to introduce a bit of art history to the children in your life. But even if you or your child are not particularly interested in art, this is still a fun and fantastical romp featuring a little girl ready to explore and engage in many adventures.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Marvelous. Five paintings by three artists is not much, but more would be overwhelming in a book meant to introduce a small child to the idea of getting lost in a work of art. Just remember to teach your child that it's a metaphor - one mustn't really try to climb inside a frame to pick flowers!
LibraryThing member ReneePaule
This is such a gorgeous little book and Katie has a wonderful imagination!
LibraryThing member LarisaAWhite
A little French girl steps into an impressionist painting at the museum, and finds herself in the company of the child of its painter.
LibraryThing member drmom62
Much improved in painting illustrations. Not particularly fond of Katie's dancing and the response itgot
LibraryThing member drmom62
Much improved in painting illustrations. Not particularly fond of Katie's dancing and the response itgot
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1998
Physical description
10.25 x 9.25 inches
ISBN
0531301516 / 9780531301517
Other editions
Katie and the Impressionists by James Mayhew (Paperback)