Linnea in Monet's Garden

Cute story; if I come across another Linnea book I'll read it. She's an established character in a series of books; in this one, she and an adult friend take a trip to France to visit Monet's house and garden, and delight in finding the scenes that he painted so often. A pleasant and at least mildly interesting story, which ends up being a sketchy biography of Monet as well. The illustrations are very nice, drawings of the garden and what they see as well as photographs of Monet and his family (some "never before published", it says).

Hm. Nice enough, but, for how (relatively) long it was, I wanted more. I can just hear my young self asking questions. What other artists were Impressionists? What else did Monet paint? There's so much more than water lilies. Otoh, the tight focus may serve a novice well.

I guess the thing that bothered me the most was how invasive Linnea was, picking leaves for souvenirs, etc.. Even Mr. Bloom assumed that it would be likely they could picnic on the grounds of Monet's home. And one of the first pictures shows Linnea's nose inches from a painting in a museum. True, she does have her hands behind her back, but please don't think that even the steam from her breath should be that close to a work that needs to be preserved for posterity.

This is one of my all-time favorite children's books. This book introduced me to my favorite artist, the French Impressionist Monet. When I was little I loved to pour over these pages and imagine I was Linnea, journeying across France to visit Monet's garden and see his art with my own eyes. What a fun adventure! I still like to look through this book and enjoy discovering Monet through Linnea's creative eyes. Linnea is a great heroine for children's books. She is very creative, friendly, and loves plants and growing things! This is a great book to get kids interested in art.

Monet is my favorite artist and even tho this book is written for children the child in me very much enjoyed this book. The story and pictures are wonderful and I can't wait to read this book to my grandchildren.

Book Title: "Linnea in Monet’s Garden”
Author: Christina Bjork & Lena Anderson
Published By: Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky
Age Recommended: 4+
Reviewed By: Kitty Bullard
Raven Rating: 5

Review: This is a book perfect for all children ages 4 and up. Parents will absolutely love the mix of history and art with the story of a little girls dream coming true. Linnea loves flowers, gardens and art. When she gets the chance to visit France and see Monet’s home as well as his paintings up close she’s ecstatic.
The trip with her good friend Mr. Bloom becomes the highlight of her young life and she learns an abundance of fascinating facts about her favorite painter. This is a fantastic story, one that is sure to be a family treasure.

Linnea, is European girl, a fan of Claude Monet and his paintings, who travels to Paris with her friend Mr. Bloom to visit Monet's country home in Giverny and see Monet's painitings . The book is special in that it includes actual photographs of the Monet family and home along with water color paintings of the gardens, Monet's painintgs and other sites. The story is charmingly told through the little girl's voice ,she conveys the enthusiasm and excitement any one would experience on such a trip. A short biography and review of Monet's painting style are included.
Ages 7-up.

Linnea has been in Paris. And she has visited the painter Claude Monet's garden! She even stood on the same little Japanese bridge that Monet painted so often in his pictures. In Paris, Linnea got to see many of the real paintings.

Now she can understand what it means to be called an Impressionist, and she knows a lot about Monet's life in the pink house where he lived with his eight children.