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A review by stefhyena
Katie and the Sunflowers by James Mayhew
3.0
A nice introduction to the post-impressionists although I personally find them hard to pronounce and sililarly found the many french phrases in the book difficult to read aloud. In one part I wondered if the author was writing more for an implied reader (male like himself) where it seemed he necessarily introduced the women as "beautiful", but maybe he was trying to be pluralistic about "difference" or something.
The female protagonist is lively and shows initiative which intitially wreaks havoc as the fourth wall on a series of paintings is destroyed and everything gets jumbled up. But there is friendship and mild adventure and the desire to set things to rights (conveniently with pirate gold that was a bit deus ex machina and a scene that was a nice try but needs more post-colonial unpicking). In the author's defence, not only was the protagonist and her friend likeable but his main agenda of introducing children to a series of famous post-impressionist paintings (by some well known male painters) I think succeeds. It may be that he is showing off how well he can reproduce them. The text is very long but my 3-5 children gladly sat through it all and seemed to take much of it in.
It could be used with other provocations to foster an appreciation of art at a young age.
The female protagonist is lively and shows initiative which intitially wreaks havoc as the fourth wall on a series of paintings is destroyed and everything gets jumbled up. But there is friendship and mild adventure and the desire to set things to rights (conveniently with pirate gold that was a bit deus ex machina and a scene that was a nice try but needs more post-colonial unpicking). In the author's defence, not only was the protagonist and her friend likeable but his main agenda of introducing children to a series of famous post-impressionist paintings (by some well known male painters) I think succeeds. It may be that he is showing off how well he can reproduce them. The text is very long but my 3-5 children gladly sat through it all and seemed to take much of it in.
It could be used with other provocations to foster an appreciation of art at a young age.