Katie and the Spanish Princess
Illustrated with appealing line-and-wash artwork, this picture book from Mayhew’s Katie series begins when the girl’s grandmother takes her to a gallery featuring Spanish painters. While Grandma snoozes, Katie admires the princess’s dress in Portrait of the Infanta Margarita. Margarita steps down from the picture, swaps clothes with Katie, and together they romp though the gallery, interacting with people in paintings by Velázquez, Goya, and Murillo. The book concludes with information about the artists. Episodic and childlike, the story makes an agreeable vehicle for introducing children to the paintings and bringing their subjects to life, both literally and metaphorically. Preschool-Grade 3. --Carolyn Phelan