Horn Book

Twelve-year-old Sargent Singer aspires to be an artist like his famous namesake. When his estranged gallery-director father invites Sargent for a summer visit, Sargent discovers that figures in the gallery's paintings can interact with one another--and with him. Full-color art reproductions may inspire art-history buffs, though explanations of art terms and history somewhat bog down a mystery plot involving art theft.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

While 12-year-old budding artist Sargent Singer (his name is an homage to artist John Singer Sargent) spends the summer with his father, the executive director of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Canada, he discovers a secret. After the subject of one portrait, 13-year-old Mona Dunn, sticks her tongue out at him, he learns that the figures in the gallery-s -world-class- paintings can come to life and can speak and travel between frames. Sargent forms a close friendship with Mona, but the most powerful relationship proves to be the nuanced, raw one between Sargent and his estranged father as they repair damage caused by divorce and distance. MacKnight (It-s a Mystery, Pig Face!) gives sly nods to similar uses of the living art idea, including those in the Harry Potter series and Night at the Museum. Explanations of art concepts and works can bog the narrative down a bit, but the gradual pacing and slow-building tension will help readers navigate the complexities of the central mysteries about disappearing art, a forgery scheme, and Sargent-s father-s work. Despite some uneven moments, this fantasy, supported by an inventive cast of characters, offers a compelling portrait of art and life. Ages 8-12. Agent: Lauren Galit, LKG Agency. (June)

Kirkus Reviews

A girl in a painting and a boy visiting the gallery she hangs in foil art thieves.Twelve-year-old Sargent Singer—named in honor of master painter John Singer Sargent—is visiting his partly estranged, emotionally volatile father, Isaac, in New Brunswick, Canada, for the summer. Isaac runs the top-tier Beaverbrook Art Gallery, which houses works by, among others, Thomas Gainsborough, Salvador Dalí, and Sargent's namesake. Mona Dunn, the other protagonist, is forever 13: William Orpen painted her portrait, Mona Dunn, in 1915, and since then she's been alive inside her painting. Unbeknownst to the public, Mona and the gallery's other painted subjects can jump from painting to painting, visiting one another and exploring the various paintings' landscapes. Sargent and Mona's friendship—begun when he catches her sticking out her tongue at obnoxious kids—features a poignant trip outdoors and conversation about each one's unique melancholy. With help, they also identify nefarious deeds (forgery? art theft?) and bravely thwart criminals. MacKnight entices with art critique and technique, although, sadly, readers never see artistic genius Sargent actually paint. In a mismatch to the emotional realism, villains are stereotypes—cartoonishly fat or lower-class. Some of the mechanics of life inside the frame are clear and others vague, but the ending's an unexpected bolt of perfect gratification. Everyone's white except one black friend, whom another friend refers to as intimidating. Color reproductions of relevant paintings are included in an insert.For anyone who's wondered about the people inside the frames. (gallery map, afterword) (Fantasy/mystery. 9-12)

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Starred Review Sargent is nervous about spending the summer with his divorced father, the director of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick. A gifted painter and a bit of a loner, 12-year-old Sargent enjoys the Beaverbrook's small summer art camp, where he finds other kids who share his interests. One day, when he glimpses the stately, century-old portrait of 13-year-old Mona Dunn sticking her tongue out at the backs of rude visitors, he uncovers a startling secret: the people in the paintings are alive. His growing friendship with Mona is later crucial in thwarting an art theft and discovering the culprits. The mystery plot will keep readers guessing until near the end, but they will find other parts of the story even more involving, from the ups and downs of Sargent's relationship with the father he barely knows to the intricately envisioned, surprisingly contentious world of the artwork, where painted figures have secret lives, thinking, conversing, and leaping from one picture to the next. Readers will find themselves frequently referring to the full-color reproductions of the paintings mentioned. While Sargent and Mona are vividly portrayed, this chapter book's most memorable element is also its most unusual: the imaginative conviction that art is alive.