From Publishers Weekly
The gradual friendship between a shy boy named Charlie and Gregory, a paint-splattered artist, is handsomely illustrated by newcomer Catalanotto in watercolors that are full of shadows and brilliant patches of light. Although both Charlie and Gregory look across the same shimmering blue-green lake, Gregory, the artist, paints only whales because, he says, "It is all I see." Charlie, the apprentice, paints "everything he sees, there on the lake," and knows that "something is waiting for him, waiting to be seen and to be painted." The sunlight etching blades of lemon-colored grass or caressing the lake at sunset is as beautiful as the deceptively simple story in which Rylant investigates the complicated difference for the artist between versimilitude and vision. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 5-7.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4 A dreamy piece about a young boy's awakening to artistic vision through his friendship with a lake-side painter. At first, shy Charlie watches from a distance as Gregory paints, then drifts awhile in his canoe. The two communicate next through messages on the artist's canvas, and then, painting side-by-side, through sharing the process of creative expression, as Gregory paints his singular vision and Charles discovers his own. The developing relationship parallels Charlie's inner process of getting to know the private, creative part of himself. Soft-focus, soft-color illustrationsdouble-page watercolorsare full of sun and shadow, leaves and water, and gentle peace punctuated by bursts of energy, as when Gregory's cat springs while geese take flight. The pictures carry a sense of the mystery of art. This is romantic, but not sentimental. It is eloquently done, and the wholewords and picturesspeaks and lingers. Karen Litton, Confederation Centre Public Library, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
