The author put enough background and context to perfectly paint the picture of his story. ( )

What happened to the girl in Henri Rousseau’s painting The Sleeping Gypsy? Gerstein imagines the answer and depicts a delightful tale beginning with the gypsy travelling through the desert and falling asleep under a starry night sky. Slowly, a lizard, a rabbit, a lion, and other animals approach and ask about the girl. Rousseau enters and explains that this is his dream and begins to paint the scene. Each of the animals begin to get restless and criticize over Rousseau’s shoulder. He scrapes out each one until only the lion is left, standing over the girl in the moonlight. The author’s note ends the story briefly describing Henri Rousseau’s life and the painting. The artwork is vivid and a lively rendition of Rousseau’s style. Inspired and playful, this book will entertain both adults and children. Recommended for grades kindergarten to 3rd. ( )

Inspired by French artist Henri Rousseau's famous painting, The Sleeping Gypsy, author/illustrator Mordicai Gerstein imagines the story - as contained in Rousseau's dream - that might lie behind the celebrated work of art. Following a young woman as she treks across the desert, the narrative chronicles her singing, her nighttime rest, and the many animals who come to examine her. When Rousseau himself shows up and begins painting her, each of the animals, save the lion, has so much to say about the painting, that he ends up erased from the canvas...

Awarded a Caldecott Medal in 2004 for The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, Mordicai Gerstein is a prolific and immensely talented artist in his own right. I really enjoyed this exploration of one possible back-story for a painting that he has found personally inspiring, especially since I have seen The Sleeping Gypsy many times, while visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The illustrations here, done in acrylics, build seamlessly upon the style and aesthetics of the original painting, expanding its vision in interesting and thought-provoking ways. There are moments of humor, as when the narrator informs us that Rousseau ignored all critiques, and moments of beauty as well. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories about dreams, artists, and the powerful effect that art can have upon us, its ability to command our attention and draw a response. ( )

This book is about Henri Rousseau's painting, "The Sleeping Gypsy" and him interacting with all of the characters in a dream. It is a good example of fantasy because animals cannot talk.