You Can't Take a Balloon into the Museum of Fine Arts

This book is full of life and energy that steadily builds up until the dramatic and clamorous conclusion. It was a good decision to keep this picture book wordless. It is already quite busy and over the top and the added words would make it too cluttered and dense. I also think it was smart to leave portions of the illustrations as uncolored line drawings to focus the attention on the intended action and plot. I almost wish, though, that those portions of the illustrations were omitted to simplify the design, but I do see their intent: they create a full, detailed essence of Boston. This book also creates clever and charming parallels between famous works of art at the BMFA and daily life in the city itself via many famous monuments and show more locations. This book could be very effective for teaching about the city of Boston since any captions can be added to the wordless pictures. It could also be very engaging to children familiar with Boston or a child who will be visiting Boston. Even if not used for a specific purpose, I believe many children could enjoy this upbeat tale and maximalist style. show less

Following upon You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum and You Can't Take a Balloon into the National Gallery, this third city/museum adventure from Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser follows the same young girl, whose love of balloons inevitably leads to a humorously catastrophic pursuit. This time it's Boston's Museum of Fine Arts being visited, and as the girl, her younger brother, and her grandfather examine the museum's many treasures, grandmother chases over Boston in pursuit of a renegade green balloon.

Once again the Preiss sisters deliver an engaging wordless picture-book, sure to entertain as it educates. The detailed illustrations from Glasser - who contributed her artwork to the Fancy Nancy show more books - are more than equal to carrying the story, creating humorously chaotic scenes that correspond to the artwork being depicted. An educational afterword gives more information about those works, as well as the famous Boston figures incorporated into the illustrations.

Ideal for Boston children, as well as young readers visiting Beantown, it highlights the many artistic masterpieces to be found in the city's art museum, as well as the landmarks and history of this important American city. Somehow, perhaps because it is grandmother involved in the balloon pursuit this time around, this third title appealed to me more than the second. Like my friend Lisa, who recommended these books to me, I find myself wishing there were more to come... show less

Even better than the first one I read. Apparently she also wrote [b:Fancy Nancy|426625|Fancy Nancy|Jane O'Connor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1376473636s/426625.jpg|1167774]. But you only catch glimpses of that style and instead get a sneaky sort of humor, reminiscent of Peter Stier and Where's Waldo. This one is also a nice little love letter to Boston. Now to get a copy of her third...

In the tradition of the wordless picture book, comes a short story told all in the backdrop of NYC and the Met. We follow a young girl and her grandmother as they set off for a day at the museum. But all things change when the greeter at the door sees that the young girl is carrying a yellow balloon and scolds her. He then convinces her to tie the balloon to the railing as she spends the day in the Met, and the events that come next extrapolate a humor filled dash of artists, public servants, and orchestral members as they all chase the balloon throughout NYC's fine arts landmarks. It gives us a modern day look at art and how human our art traditions are indebted to in real life experience. Also illustrator uses the technique of show more coloring yellow all of the people involved around a backdrop of black and white. show less

This book is a picture book with no words. I find it interesting for many different reasons. One of which is that you can make up your own story when reading it. Another, is that there are many different forms of illustrations used within the book. I also think it is interesting that the book follows the balloon around the city of Boston. If a child is from Boston, or interested in Boston, this would be a good book to read. The illustrations are funny and relatable and perfect for making up one's own story. There is also a very cool map on the inside of the cover.

While a brother and sister, along with their grandparents, visit the Museum of Fine Arts, the balloon they were not allowed to bring into the museum floats around Boston, causing a series of mishaps at various tourist sites.

Weitzman, Jacgueline P. and Glasser, Robin P. You Can’t Take a Balloon Into The National Gallery. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2000.

Characters: A balloon, a nameless girl, her grandmother, her brother and the people who help look over her balloon.

Setting: National Gallery in Washington D.C. and various other historical monuments and buildings in Washington D.C.

Theme: Wordless book

Genre: Juvenile Fiction

Summary: The story starts off with a glimpse of the girl, her brother, her mother/grandmother and her big orange balloon. She is going around the city holding onto her balloon as she sees all the sights in Washington D.C. You can see that this balloon is very precious to her because in a lot of the illustrated frames, she is show more either looking at the balloon or hugging it. She then asks her mother/grandmother if they could go into the National Museum at which point she is told that balloons were not allowed in there. The little girl asks a kiosk worker in front of the museum to look after her balloon while they are inside. While the kiosk worker is attending to her clients, a delivery man knocks her into the balloon and the balloon starts to float away. The lady then goes running after the balloon and recruits people along the way that she has bumped into, to help recover the balloon. The balloon flies all across Washington D.C. visiting monuments, statues, and even the White House. The story ends when the balloon is recovered by the President of the United States, right in front of the National Gallery.

Audience: Third Grade and up.

Curriculum ties: U.S. History, Geography, Art.

Personal Response: This book is very well illustrated and the format/content flows easily from one page to another. The illustrations contain a tremendous amount of detail, but the most important figures in the illustrations are always presented in color, while the background is in black and white. The book takes you throughout Washington D.C. and presents to the reader a great deal of famous buildings, statues and monuments. The internal dialogue I had while flipping through the book was very strong and clear, even though the frames jumped back and forth from the little girl in the museum to the balloon flying all across the capital. I attribute this to a very well thought out story and the ability to execute this story via accurately illustrated pictures. This book would be suitable for young readers who have already been able to develop an inner dialogue and who recognize landmarks that they have learned about, otherwise, it is still a great book to narrate to younger audiences. show less