Katie's Sunday Afternoon written and illustrated James Mayhew
An enjoyable story about a little girl and her grandmother as they spend a HOT day together. Instead of spending the afternoon at the pool, Katie and her grandmother decide to visit the local gallery. While there Katie is able to go into the paintings and help those who in the painting enjoy life outside of the pictures.
This book is also another in a series. What I love about this book is that it introduces the reader to the world of art. In this particular book it is with reproductions of Seurat, Signac and Pissarro, also known as Pointillists. The text is enjoyable and is a little on the difficult side for beginning readers (due to the use of French phrases). The book would be good to use for a lesson on predicting the story.
I used this book with my Reading Buddy who claimed he was not a good reader. During our first meeting he mentioned that his favorite subject was Art. When I stumbled across this series, I thought it was just what I needed to get him engaged. I was correct, he really enjoyed the painting and was even more interested in reading the story than in our other meetings.
Intended audience: Kindergarten (for the illustrations) to 4th
Jen,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book, and when I see the cover painting, I can't help thinking of Ferris Bueller's Day Off when they go to visit the Museum of Art in Chicago (a beautiful piece of art and that's where my mind goes... =)). But I also love historical fiction books about art and artists. There is a great series that I read one part of with the same type of idea that seems to be seen in the book you described here. I love the idea of the characters going into the paintings or seeing how they are made by getting inside the actual painting and leaving the real world behind. It seems that these types of books would really help children appreciate art, because I'll tell ya, I really didn't care much for art until I read and looked at stories based on these artists when I was a little girl. Monet became my favorite.
If your reading buddy really truly likes art that much, I would recommend the book The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, or any other book by Laurence Anholt for that matter. These books are BEAUTIFUL, with creative story lines to teach students about different artists and the way they came up with ideas to create some of the most beautiful, famous paintings that have ever been seen over the course of history. Really good opportunity for extension activities too, since each book provides a bit of biographical information about the artist. I think I will read this book too since you have spoken so highly about it! =)
I was thinking about picking this book up the other day but never got around to it. After reading your blog I am sad that I didn't and it will definately have to be one of the next ones that I do! I'm happy that it worked for your buddy too...sometimes there interests don't always match up with easy books to find that are at their reading level. Great job!
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