Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Anna, a spirited girl of about 3, exhibits many of the symptoms of boredom—until a museum guard gives her and her mother a special opportunity.From the moment Anna sits frowning on a tired-looking, aquamarine sofa, waiting for her mother to pay admission, text and art combine to create a funny frolic through the galleries. While Anna and the other museum visitors are cartoonlike in appearance, the artworks on each page are excellent reproductions of works found in art museums around the world (a key is in the backmatter). The sight gags are playful and plentiful, revolving around the resemblance of people and things in the gallery to the art on display—which is, of course, the point of the book. Children will enjoy detecting the artistic echoes of real life on every page. Some are subtle, but others will bring immediate laughter—as when Anna inadvertently sets off an alarm and the faces and hands of adults in the gallery resemble those in Edvard Munch's The Scream. Text is in clear, sans-serif type, and it includes this wistful thought from a subdued Anna as she gazes out the window (at a Monet-esque harbor scene): "If only the museum could be turned inside out. Or the world outside in." Her epiphany is on the way. Anna and her mom have brown skin and straight, black hair; other museumgoers are diverse.Clever and endearing. (Picture book. 3-7)

ALA Booklist (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Anna's unhappy when visiting an art museum, where her mother's rules and the gallery attendant's warnings interfere with her enjoyment. Besides, everything seems "old and boring." Old, yes, from ancient Egyptian art to twentieth-century paintings, but boring? Not for long. When the attendant takes Anna and her mother behind the scenes to watch a man cleaning a painting, she suddenly sees herself in Mary Cassatt's portrait of a bored, grumpy little girl. This revelation leads her to experience art in a new way. Long before Anna's epiphany, children will notice many similarities between the paintings on the gallery walls and the people near them. When Anna plays peekaboo with a baby, they look like the figures in an eighteenth-century Japanese silk painting behind them. A museum visitor's swooping hair resembles the swirling foliage in Emily Carr's Western Forest. Appended notes identify the artworks. Lively and expressive, the digital pictures complement the empathetic, well-structured story, but it's the visual interplay between illustrated characters and museum art that makes this such an engaging, enjoyable picture book.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Anna, a spirited girl of about 3, exhibits many of the symptoms of boredom—until a museum guard gives her and her mother a special opportunity.From the moment Anna sits frowning on a tired-looking, aquamarine sofa, waiting for her mother to pay admission, text and art combine to create a funny frolic through the galleries. While Anna and the other museum visitors are cartoonlike in appearance, the artworks on each page are excellent reproductions of works found in art museums around the world (a key is in the backmatter). The sight gags are playful and plentiful, revolving around the resemblance of people and things in the gallery to the art on display—which is, of course, the point of the book. Children will enjoy detecting the artistic echoes of real life on every page. Some are subtle, but others will bring immediate laughter—as when Anna inadvertently sets off an alarm and the faces and hands of adults in the gallery resemble those in Edvard Munch's The Scream. Text is in clear, sans-serif type, and it includes this wistful thought from a subdued Anna as she gazes out the window (at a Monet-esque harbor scene): "If only the museum could be turned inside out. Or the world outside in." Her epiphany is on the way. Anna and her mom have brown skin and straight, black hair; other museumgoers are diverse.Clever and endearing. (Picture book. 3-7)

School Library Journal (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

PreS-K Bored at the art museum, a little girl decides to entertain herself by roaring loudly at the ceramic lion panel, running around the gallery, and trying to touch a modern sculpture that looks like a play piece. Her actions get her in trouble with the attendant and her mother. After a scolding from her mother, Anna "gazed longingly out at the street and the harbor beyond," wishing the museum "could be turned inside out. Or the world outside in." After a few more misbehaviors, Anna accidentally ends up in one of the museum workshops where artwork repair and restoration takes place. Anna perfectly relates to the painting of a bored girl ( Little Girl in a Blue Armchair by Mary Cassatt), and feels a sudden change in her attitude, promising the ceramic lion that she will return as she bursts outdoors with her mother. Although the change in Anna's attitude is abrupt, her boredom will be relatable. Anna's frustration is obvious in her facial expressions, and the artwork in each gallery cleverly matches her behavior or feelings. For example, as she gazes out a window, her mother gazes at three landscape paintings. The digitally drawn artwork includes pieces of actual artwork, which are identified and described at the end of the book. VERDICT Children will relate to Anna and adults may want to use the title as an introduction for a museum visit. Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX