Once Upon a Picture

by Sally Swain

With magnificent illustrations, this unique account introduces children to art through four famous paintings: Paul Klee's "Twittering Machine," Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "The Umbrellas," Henri Rousseau's "Tiger in the Tropical Storm (Surprised!)," and Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night." Young minds explore these well-known pieces through creative storytelling and eye-catching images. From the sounds of Klee's machines and Renoir's children at play to the movement of van Gogh's stars and Rousseau's prowling jungle tigers, the illustrations and story suggestions unfold with visual, verbal, and dramatic effect. This ideal art literacy tool invites children to take up their own adventures and concludes with four additional paintings by the same artists to spark developing imaginations.

Genres: Art, Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Childrens' picture book. Not my usual read or review. But who knew, I am now a grandmother and though he is still young I am already on the look out for fun books that might give him a little interest in art and creativity, something I came to very late in life.

So this was a colorful great fun book for young child maybe 4-6 years especially. It looks at four well known paintings and poses fun questions for children to ponder, such as: what was the little girl trying to do in the painting? What kind of machine might this be and what would it do? how is the night sky both close and far away? These are questions with no right or wrong answers, just fun thoughts to explore. At any age these are fun pictures, questions and beautiful illustrations. I loved looking at them and just thinking of the questions that might get a child interacting with art in a fun way. This is a keeper, only wish it had more than 4 pictures. Did love the inclusion of Paul Klee my favorite.

[Megan McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Once Upon a Picture
Author: Sally Swain
Illustrator: Sally Swain
Genre: children literature
Theme(s): Books that feature distinct artistic style
Brief Book Summary: This beautiful book introduces children to the world of impressionalism art, featuring “Paul Klee's "Twittering Machine," Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "The Umbrellas," Henri Rousseau's "Tiger in the Tropical Storm (Surprised!)," and Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night."
Framework:
Like(s): How they showcased not one, but three examples of historic art that has made an impact on history
Dislike(s): The price of the hard over copy is actually almost a thousand dollars on Amazon, not ideal
Patterns(s): Showcasing art
Puzzle(s): How do each picture compare and contrast
Consideration of Instructional Application (3-4 sentences in your own words): The children can pick which piece of art work showcased in the book and recreate it as their own. This shows them how we can get inspired from great works, and create something totally new and call it our own through similar techniques that the artist used as impressionalism.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are stunning. Once Upon a Picture is a good way to introduce picture-book readers to different styles of Art, and to maybe even learn to distinguish one artist from another. It also is great for sparking the imaginations of young readers.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun, delightful book! It is a great way to get children (and adults!) involved in art. This is one I might want to buy.

[Brooke Holthe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The four pieces of art work that were inspired to write this story create a beautiful cover that are all intertwined together. The reason I picked up this book was because I love the art piece "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh and was curious how the author made it kid friendly.

I really liked the fact that the author was inspired by taking these pieces of art and creating a story with the picture. I noticed that the pictures started out somewhat gloomy and then got brighter as the pages went on. My jaw dropped a little with excitement when I saw that the author took a single picture and elaborated what one piece of that art could be thinking or doing in the picture. This is a great book for students to read and make connections with art. The art work may mean little to elementary students but exposing them to a book such as this where they can see the original piece as well as elaborating on one part of it will give them more meaning. I like how it made connections to what students would most likely think when they are looking at art. Kids are always asking questions and this book acts as if a child created the story. This perspective helps children to enjoy famous art through a picture book.

[Kelly Wiegand]

Kelly Wiegand
April 27, 2015
EDL54500 Library Materials for Children and Youth

Title: Once Upon a Picture

Author: Sally Swain

Plot: This is an imaginative adventure as the narrator takes the reader from one famous painting to another and asks about particular characteristics featured in the paintings.

Setting: "The Umbrellas"; "Twittering Machine"; "The Starry Night"; "Tiger in a Tropical Storm"

Characters: The narrator and the reader

Point-of-View: The story is told in first-person.

Themes: Imagination; Appreciation; Art; Artists

Style: This book is told in a traditional fairy tale format.

Copyright: 2004

Reflection: This is a very unique book where well-known artwork meets story books. It sparks imagination and discussion about the famous artwork featured in the book and forces students to see the picture and give good though to as what they think its meaning is. This would be a great book to suggest to the art teacher and a helpful teaching method to inform all teachers of.

[Kelley Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little words, lets the students make up their own story. good for visualizing, inferring.