Touch the Art: Count Monet's Lilies

by Julie Appel, Amy Guglielmo

Step into the garden— our day has begun. Find Monet’s lily and count to one . . .   This beautiful new entry in the series not only introduces children to Impressionism—perhaps the most popular artistic movement of all time--but also offers them fun with numbers. Kids can count fruit in Cézanne’s Still Life with Apples, pat six fancy hats in Degas’’ The Millinery Shop, feel the bumpy bark in Edouard Vuillard’s Two Schoolchildren, and touch blue ribbon bows in Renoir’s The Swing.

Genres: Childrens, Art, Picture Books

20 pages, Board Book

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Kian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The touch part didn't seem to link well with the story.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book is good on 3 levels. 1) a board book for babies 2) An art resource on a simplified form. 3) Exposure to artists! I liked the whole thing! Soup to nuts!!

[Leo]

10.5 month old Leo enjoyed pulling the ribbons and touching the grass but generally has taken a while to get through this series - we did it a couple pages at a time because Mom really wanted to check them out but Leo wasn't usually too engaged. Mom loves the ideas of these books but thinks they could be executed better. On this one, some of the pages are thicker than others, which made it hard to tell if we were skipping a page. On the "4" page there were "touch" spots for only 3 of the plants, which could be confusing for children. The "5" page did not have the number in the text so Mom had to be paying attention! This series is geared for older toddlers (labelled 3 and up due to some of the small parts) and that seems fair. Mom will try them again when Leo is older and see if he enjoys them more then. She would love to see a simplified series of Touch the Art books with less pages and bigger "touch" pieces for the little littles.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read about this book in "The Enchanted Hour" and was able to get a copy through the library. What a cool book! Great works of impressionist art with something for children to touch and count on each page. Made for young children who enjoy board books with tactile pages, but I also enjoyed it as an adult.

[Similar in quality to the Barenaked Ladies children's album. You can listen to it repeatedly as a parent and not go crazy. Parents, you will thank me later.]

Rating it here to remember it for gifts to young children. It is currently limited/pricey through Amazon, but reasonable through Barnes & Noble. :-) I might also buy a copy to keep at our house, along with the other art books in this series that our library did not have available.

[E & E’s Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elliot loves books about art, especially since the ones I pick either have fun plot (the picture books by James Mayhew) or they have a short rhyme and interactive component, like this gun book. From one to nine, different paintings have things to touch, from sandpaper for a sandy beach, to a bow on a dress. Elliot loved touching them and I loved exposing him to masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Cassatt.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another title in the touch the ark board book series. This one also functions as a counting book also as a child is asked to count objects on the paintings. Nine different artists are featured with one painting from each. Additionally there is a brief biographical statement about each artist is included at the end of the story.
I appreciated seeing Summertime by Cassatt, the Millinery Shop by Degas, and The Swing by Renoir.

[Wsclai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting book to introduce children to impressionist paintings.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this series!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for exposing little ones (Ages 2-7) to art and counting with them at the same time!