Katie and the Sunflowers

This is the fourth in a series of charming picture books in which Katie goes to the Art Gallery with her Grandma. (Other titles are Katie's Picture Show, Katie Meets the Impressionists, and Katie and the Mona Lisa.) This delightful fantasy story sees Katie visiting the gallery on a rainy day and interacting with five post-Impressionist paintings. She tries to pick sunflower seeds from the Van Gogh painting but knocks the vase over. Mimi, from Gauguin's Breton Girls Dancing, helps Katie to pick them up but her dog Zazou comes too and races off with the flowers into Van Gogh's CafŽ Terrace at Night. Further complications follows as a CŽzanne still life and a second Gauguin come to life. The vibrant illustrations are clever adaptations of the originals and the storyline flows gently from one masterpiece to another until Katie is reunited with her Grandma, who has slept through the episode. Katie goes home, presumably to plant the sunflower seeds which she has collected. (Perhaps a few seeds might have been included with the book?) We return to reality with a single page giving basic information about the three post-Impressionists high-lighted in the story.