Monet's Impressions
Similar in format and concept to Vincent’s Colors (2005), this handsome volume pairs paintings by Claude Monet with short phrases from his personal letters as well as articles in which he was quoted. Varied in mood and subject matter, the vivid paintings are beautifully reproduced on the heavy, white pages, while on facing pages, pithy phrases offer either a brief accompaniment to each picture or a starting place for conversations between adults and children reading the book together. The book gives a sense of the artist’s purpose, style, and range. Although in the full-page reproductions the artworks have been cropped to fit the book’s format, each painting can be found in full, though in miniature, in the book’s closing pages, along with its name, medium, date, and location as well as the source of the quote that appears with it in the book. Produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this is a fine, early introduction to Monet’s paintings. Grades K-3. --Carolyn Phelan