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pacifickle's review against another edition
5.0
Don't ever give up. Henri Rousseau picked up his first paint and brushes at age 40, then continued to annually submit paintings to Salons around Paris to great ridicule, personifying persistence. Charming illustrations in which Rousseau's real paintings are cleverly edited to present the story as it moves from artistic unknown to well-loved "naive" artiste, friend to Pablo Picasso & Gertrude Stein. The text is middle grade friendly but full of life and effervescent vocabulary.
bbwolf59's review against another edition
4.0
Would have liked to have some of Rousseau's work somewhere in the book...
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Another children's picture book biography. The choice of subject Rousseau, and artist I knew little about was a good one. The writing was clear and breezy, though perhaps a little long for a picture book. The art was fine but suffers from the usual art picture book, hard to tell the picture book art from the real art unless you are already very familiar with the work. The afterword could have been a bit stronger and more detailed. In the end it was not an amazing book, but a solid good one. 3.5 of 5.
muddypuddle's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderfully illustrated story of how Henri Rousseau, despite all sorts of negative appreciation, pursued the artistic career that he dearly wanted. He never gave up, and kept painting until he was quite old. This book really SHOWS how he worked and worked and never gave up. Interestingly, it's told in the present tense.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
Tells the painting life of Henri rousseau in picture book form. He was 40 years old when he taught himself to paint, and he persevered through exhibitions where his work was roundly criticized as immature; well, he had no formal training and his style is "naive" and used flattened shapes and unrealistic scenes that were later copied by modern painters. I love the illustrations in this book, they're so colorful and whimsical and done in a style that very closely resembles Rousseau's art, and there are two double-page spreads of groups of chracters who are actually famous people whom Rousseau knew. The illustrator includes a great key in the back to point out exactly who is who. I didn't know anything about Rousseau (not that I could remember from college art history, anyway) and this was a very enlightening book. No bibliography or list of further reading.
calistareads's review against another edition
5.0
This is the biography about the amazing artist Henri Rousseau. I only knew a few of his paintings, but nothing about his life. He was a toll collector and at age 40 decided to teach himself to paint. He was bold enough, that every year he would take his artwork to a major art exhibit and show his work to the critics. The critics lambasted him and he would cut out the reviews and keep them. Each year he went back, until some younger artists decided there was something there.
The artwork of this book is beautiful. I love the flowers and jungles and the last picture of him riding the tiger is amazing. I love that painting. It’s beautiful. I loved getting to learn about this artist and his story. It’s well done.
The nephew was interested in the story here. He liked the picture of the tiger leaping into his room. There was a picture of the art critics and two of them looked like monkey’s in suits and he laughed at that. He thought this was ok. He gave this 3 stars.
The artwork of this book is beautiful. I love the flowers and jungles and the last picture of him riding the tiger is amazing. I love that painting. It’s beautiful. I loved getting to learn about this artist and his story. It’s well done.
The nephew was interested in the story here. He liked the picture of the tiger leaping into his room. There was a picture of the art critics and two of them looked like monkey’s in suits and he laughed at that. He thought this was ok. He gave this 3 stars.
elllie's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe I'm just not an art-book type of person. This book was fine but not something incredibly special.
booksandbosox's review against another edition
4.0
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com/2012/10/picture-book-saturday-36.html
jenk2020's review against another edition
5.0
I'm not the most cultured of beings I'm afraid, so I'd never heard of Henri Rousseau, a self-taught artist recognised as a 'real artist,' a genius in fact by famous artists like Picasso. But now thanks to this magical, stunning picture book, I have. What a wonderful way for children to learn about the world.