Through the Window: Views of Marc Chagall's Life and Art by Barb Rosenstock
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on September 25th 2018
ISBN: 1524717517
Pages: 40
Goodreads

The Caldecott Honor winning team of The Noisy Paint Box and Vincent Can’t Sleep is back again and this time they focus their immeasurable talent on the talents of artist Marc Chagall. From its arresting cover to the lush end papers, Grandpré is at her finest here. The palette is rich with the hues from Chagall’s own art, deepest blues, shimmering yellows, and pulsing red oranges. Rosenstock’s prose is lovely though this book calls on the inference skills of its reader since she does not tell the story outright, but rather uses an almost-poetic writing to tell of Chagall’s humble upbringing, acceptance to art school, and the many challenges and triumphs of his work as an artist. The Author’s Note at the end of the book has a more straight-forward narrative of Chagall’s life and should be used in conjunction with the text of the book to maximize understanding of this important artist and his place in history. Pair this with Eric Carle’s “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse” and it will make that story come to life. Recommended for K-3.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth