Art Detective: Spot the Difference!
What better way to get kids looking (intensely) at famous works of art than to make it a game? Led by a detective dog named Carl, readers are challenged to spot the difference between a beautifully reproduced masterpiece and its forgery on the facing page, and challenge is definitely the operative word: some variations are obvious, like an extra monkey in one of Rousseau’s jungle scenes, while others are subtle, like changes in the brushstrokes of Van Gogh’s Starry Night or dabs of light in a Monet. In a painting from India, the details are so small and condensed that a magnifying glass might come in handy. Luckily for impatient readers, there’s an answer key with the solutions, along with information about each painting (and the museums where they can be seen in person). But patient, determined art lovers will pore over the pictures to find all the errors and, in the process, get to know some famous works of art, from a wide variety of periods and styles, up close. Grades 3-5. --Sarah Hunter