Customer Reviews

Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars (Smart About Art)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

My daughter read this book for a class report, and we liked the fact that this book coincidentally was written as though it was a child's report about Van Gogh. She was intrigued to find out that Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, and was not a rich artist. The humor in the writing and illustrations make this book accessible, fun, and informative, and help kids relate the artist's life. The evolution of Van Gogh's painting style beginning with Potato Eaters and the influences on his art are discussed in understandable terms. It was fun to learn that throughout his life, Vincent's best buddy was his brother Theo, even though they fought as siblings often do. The book contains many photos of Van Gogh's actual paintings. Great book. We both recommend it.

I wanted something to spark my 6YO son's interest in art. This book sure did. He asked me to read it to him a 2nd time right on the spot. He also spotted a Van Gogh print that I brought home. This is a fine series. I also got the Degas which wasn't quite as interesting but he still liked it. I just ordered Picasso and a few others. Get the Van Gogh and if your child loves it, try some of the others. (I also liked that this mentioned Van Gogh was very depressed once at loving a woman who didn't love him back.)

This is what my daughter called the famous painting when I first bought her this book. She is almost 4 and has owned this book for about 9 months and it is regularly a favorite that she likes to read...well, more often she likes to look at the pictures and name the paintings. This is a great intro to art book for young children. I highly recommend as a first book for your little art-lover, or art-lover-to-be.

My 5, 6 and 8 yr old kids are entranced when I read them the Smart About Art books. After reading one, I came back to Amazon and ordered as many as I could.

They are written as a student would write a book report, but are humorous, touching and extremely informative with plenty of examples of the artists' work. I attended Art School 20+ years ago and it was a refresher course for me as well. It includes background/personal info about the artist, but only as much as a child can comprehend and as it pertains to his art. These books have just the right amount of info on the artists and their work.

I wanted to share the world of art with my kids. Though my youngest two still use coloring books and my oldest reads chapter books without illustrations, these Smart About Art picture books are the perfect mix where they all can gain something from them--this series is neither too young nor too advanced.

After years of reading picture books, my kids often ask "can that really happen?" or "is that person real?" I wanted a break from the imaginative world of children's lit and now I'm happy to finally answer "Yes, this person really existed, this really happened!" after reading the Smart About Art books.

My five year old was so inspired reading this that she went to the basement and proceeded to make her own copies of his works. It is nice and simple, but with a decent amount of info and great pics.

This book is written for kids in a simplistic, sometimes comedic, and easy to read form. There are pictures of many of his works, and the authors talk about everything from the artist's life to his style, subjects, and color choices! Granted, many of these musings are brief, but it is definitely enough to get any child seeing the world of art in full color!

I used this book to introduce art to my 1st grader. The content is colorful, simple to understand, and inspiring. I encouraged my 1st grader to re draw some of the pictures. She had a blast and of course they were better than the originals :-)

My Mom had been singing "Starry Starry night" to me and I had the seen the Starry night picture in my art room at school so I wanted to know more about artist. My Mom got this book for me and I loved it. The fact that it is written in the style of a school report and is full of doodles and personnel thoughts made it very easy to follow. My Mom & I both learned some new things and now I want to go to the museum in the Netherlands to see the letters he wrote to his brother because he drew pictures around the edges.

Great book to introduce Van Gogh - nice reproductions and storyline, but then I'm biased as this is my favorite artist!

We love this series and this particular book is one of our favorites. It's funny and chock full of basic facts about the artist Vincent van Gogh. My kids get a kick out of the fact that Vincent fought with his brother, but I like the fact that it is clear how much Theo cared about Vincent in spite of their squabbles and that they remained friends all their lives. Useful for book reports, according to my daughter. She also likes the Degas one, Paintings That Dance. My whole family highly recommends Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers and Swirly Stars!