Colorful Dreamer

December 24, 2012
For a boy whose "dreams were full of color," life in Henri Matisse's industrial village is bleak. Young Henri is a source of anxiety for his hardworking parents, who fear he will never make a living; his departure for Paris to study law comes as a relief. Berry (Woof: A Love Story) ties her mixed-media artwork to Matisse's growth and eventual embrace of art. Scenes of Matisse's upbringing and dreary work as a law clerk are drawn in pencil, but when he begins painting, his life transforms. "The moment Henri opened that box, he knew. The colors! This was what he had been dreaming of," writes Parker (When Dads Don't Grow Up). Berry then fills her spreads with vibrant acrylic paintings and collage artwork, integrating flamboyant patterns and tropical motifs that echo the work that Matisse tirelessly creates ("He worked as hard as any artist ever had. He worked until the very day he died"). Readers whose talents stray from the conventional should welcome this joyful affirmation of creative expression. Ages 3âup.

Starred review from October 1, 2012
Matisse's genius was that he never stopped exploring, even as he honored his intense childhood dreams of creativity, color and art. Parker's text is a pitch-perfect and appealing narrative, but the real star here is Berry's art. She first offers careful, almost tight, school-notebooklike drawings of French cities and interiors that effectively convey the gray and noncreative aspects of Matisse's childhood, relieved only by his colorful daydreams. After leaving his small town and working as a law clerk in Paris, Henri was freed from the prison of social convention through his mother's simple gift of a paint box (to pass the time while convalescing from a serious illness). He then exuberantly embraced his life as an artist. Berry seamlessly infuses each successive spread with waves of the characteristically intense, almost excessively vivid, explosive color of the Fauves' palette. She ingeniously incorporates much of Matisse's now-iconic imagery (goldfish, Mediterranean rugs, busy fabrics, Tahitian jungle palm fronds, lemons, leaves, strong geometric shapes, stars and much more). Parker and Berry finally combine to movingly present the methods, meaning and passion that propelled Matisse's later work--simple cutouts in bright monochromatic papers. This inspiring and accessible picture book serves as a brilliant introduction to one artist's vitality. The message? Like Matisse, we must never stop creating and experimenting. (author's note, list of museums with Matisse artwork) (Picture book/biography. 3-5)

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Starred review from November 1, 2012

Gr 2-5-This picture-book biography covers Matisse's entire life but focuses on his career aspirations and achievements. The straightforward text takes a lighthearted approach by including details such as young Henri's dream of becoming a magician and his skill with a peashooter. Berry's illustrations are the star of the show; dignified black-and-white drawings represent the artist's dull youth and colorful paintings are introduced when his career takes off. The style of the artwork evokes Matisse more and more as the story progresses, ending, as his career did, with paper cut-out collage. While his life story is not particularly adventurous or exciting, young readers will be drawn in by the obvious affection the author and illustrator feel for their subject. There is not enough detail for reports, but the book may spark interest that can be followed up by further research. A must for art teachers, and a nice addition to history and biography collections.-Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2012
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* This inspiring picture book about the life of Henri Matisse weaves back and forth between Henri's dreary realityrendered in pencil shades of black, white, and grayand the vivid world of his imagination, depicted in gorgeous full-color pencil, paint, and collage. Much to Henri's parents' dismay, their son does not excel at school, working in the family store, or the violin; instead, he is a dreamer. During his blah stint as a young lawyer, Henri starts to suffer stomach pains and ends up in the hospital, where he has plenty of time and nothing to do. But a set of paints changes all that: he picked up the paintbrush and was transported into paradise. From here, the book really sings as we're treated to Henri's vivid inner life made real on canvas. Parker's lyrical text is accessible to young children and offers a rich look at the artist's life, but it's Berry's art that wows. She manages to capture the vibrancy and rich saturation of Matisse's original paintings and then changes styles to reflect his later-in-life colored-paper cutouts, which he referred to as drawing with scissors. An endnote fills in details about Matisse's life. A great introduction to the renowned artist and a validation of dreamers everywhere.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)