Author and Illustrator: Laurence Anholt
Publisher: Barron’s Educational
Price: $16.99
Papa Chagall, Tell us a Story, is a new picture book by Laurence Anholt. In the book, Anholt, who has told the stories of other painters such as Degas, Da Vinci, and Monet, focuses on Marc Chagall, a Russian painter who lived from 1887-1985.
Anholt does a fantastic job in telling stories of artists and introducing their work to children, and this one is no different. In Papa Chagall, Tell Us a Story, which Anholt wrote and illustrated, Chagall’s grandchildren find their grandfather working in his studio and ask him to tell them a story. Chagall tells them of his difficulties and his joys. He tells them about growing up poor, how his art was discovered, the wars he lived through and being ridiculed by the Nazis (Chagall was Jewish) and meeting his wife. While the conversation is fictional, the stories are based on Chagall’s life.
The next time I take my children to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we’ll not only appreciate the beautiful colors and drifting people found on his canvasses, but we’ll appreciate Chagall’s story. I loved the book as much as my children and those that have an appreciation for art will too. In fact, Chagall’s story is so amazing that even those without an appreciation for art will enjoy the book.
* The publisher provided a copy for my review, but I was not compensated and the opinions are my own.
Your post makes us want to see some of his paintings.