Rembrandt Takes a Walk [Hardcover]

Mark Strand (Author), Red Grooms (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1987 | Age Level: 7 and up

On a visit to his rich eccentric uncle, who owns many wonderful paintings, Tom is amazed when Rembrandt leaves his self-portrait and takes a walk with Tom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This elegantly illustrated book is a marvelous place through which to take a leisurely visual walk. Of lesser interest is Strand's story of Tommy, a boy who visits his art collector uncle and discovers a magical ability to make Old Masters come to life. Tommy eats some apples from a Cezanne and a juicy Zurbaran orange or two. Then he frees Rembrandt from a late self-portrait and the two stroll through town, the artist sketching away with zeal. Unfortunately, the text is a bit precious and at times goes beyond the sophistication of young children. An example is an episode in which Rembrandt exclaims, "What flesh!" as he excitedly draws a portrait of a housewife in her yard, and is mistaken for a dirty old man. Thankfully, Grooms's strikingly original pictures, the artist's first for children, minimize the intrusion of the text.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4 This book somewhat resembles a Pinkwater fling and has some of his humor, but Strand doesn't develop any of his characters or situations. It seems like the first draft of an interesting idea that is not fully developed. A young boy goes to visit his tightwad uncle, whose sole passion is collecting art. He gives poor Tom only half of a hamburger for supper. The following morning, a hungry Tom discovers that he can pluck the fruit from the Cezanne and Zurbaran paintings and eat it. Unable to remember which fruit goes where, and afraid that his uncle will notice, Tom is delighted when Rembrandt steps out of a self-portrait and offers to help. But Rembrandt wants to look around this modern world. He and Tom take a turn around town before Rembrandt steps back into his painting. The ideas are beyond the grasp of preschool and primary grade audiences, and the story isn't developed enough for the third and fourth graders who might enjoy it. Red Grooms' vividly-colored artwork, reflecting the personal vision of the world that his fine art exhibits, has a wild, slapdash feeling of immediacy, but the layout has a thrown-together quality. Text is inserted willy nilly around the picture, sometimes in white type on a dark background, sometimes in black type over color washes where it is hard to read; on other pages white swatches are patched in to accomodate the text. Tacking the bibliographic data at the bottom of the last page also detracts from the presentation of the book.Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 25 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1st edition (January 20, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517562936
• ISBN-13: 978-0517562932
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, December 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rembrandt Takes a Walk (Hardcover)

Wonderful kids' book, especially as an introduction to works of art

5.0 out of 5 stars Her eyes are wide open and took her breath away!!, May 25, 2004

By 

"jojocho" (Wellington, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rembrandt Takes a Walk (Hardcover)

What a book! I was reading this book to my daughter (7 years old), when she was listening the part of when Tom tried to touch the apple in Cezanne's painting and it moved, her eyes are wide open and took her breath away. (I felt that way too.) Tom kept touching his uncle's painting and finaly Renbrandt will move out from the portrait. Mark Strand's story is bizarre and thrilled. It made our heart pounded with expectation, "What's gonna happen next?" Also Red Grooms's powerful illustrations help us to get excited. This is one of the best picture books for kids 4-8. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Art Student Review, November 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Rembrandt Takes a Walk (Hardcover)

This book was one of the first times I was exposed to Red Groom's work. As a child I felt there was something special about this book and kept it in the living room with my parent's coffeetable books. Now I'm in my thrid year of art school and have a new appreciation of Red Groom's clever illustrations.