Vincent's colors

Gr. 1-3. This slim volume, produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an extraordinary accomplishment. Editor William Lach takes Van Gogh's own words from his letters to his brother, Theo, translated closely or freely from French or Dutch, to describe the colors of some of his most famous and beloved paintings. Lach has rhymed them gently: Leaves of silver turning to green, / stars sparkling, greenish, yellow, white, / a big bunch of violet irises, / and in my head a starry night. There's a single line of text per spread, each opposite a full reproduction or a detail of the painting that corresponds to the line. The book begins with a very brief introduction and ends with a complete list of the paintings, including full descriptions and a citation for the correspondence from which each description comes. Children--and their adults--will marvel at the sunflowers that are twelve flowers that are light on light or a lady's clothes in black, black, black. Accessible to the youngest of connoisseurs. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2005 Booklist

Several titles this fall invite young people to follow a course of art appreciation. Vincent's Colors: Words and Pictures by Vincent van Gogh uses as text the letters that the artist wrote to his brother, Theo, alongside reproductions of 16 of his works (completed from 1888 to 1890). Always reproduced as full-bleed images, some of the paintings are cropped in order to focus on the elements described by the text; all are reproduced in full on the final two spreads. From interiors such as The Bedroom and his still life Irises to the haunting The Starry Night, youngsters' interest in this artist will likely be piqued by this excellent selection. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Brief excerpts from van Gogh's letters to his brother serve as the text accompanying a selection of his paintings. The phrases form a simple rhyme, the words prompting young readers to recognize specific visual details in the art. Even so, the power of each image far eclipses the contribution--or necessity--of the text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.