Book Review: Visiting the Art Museum by Laurene Krasney Brown and Marc Brown

Visiting the Art Museum by Laurene Krasney Brown and Marc Brown

Mommy: This is one of the first museum books we acquired and it remains a favorite.  I appreciate the lively and quite realistic family romp through an art museum.  Each character has a wonderful personality--both members of the main family and the other visitors we meet while meandering through the galleries.  While the story is told through cartoonish drawings, the artworks are represented true to life.  The story is told through bubble quotes, but I find my children and I fill in the narration with our own observations and commentary.  At the end of the book are more details on each of the galleries and artworks featured, as well as great tips for visiting the museum with a family group.

5-year-old:  I liked when the dad was pulling the kid away from the TV because they were going to the museum.  And at the museum when the girl said she had to go to the bathroom.  Sometimes that happens to us at the museum.  I liked the part with the costume and the mummy.  I have another favorite part—I liked the part with the naked Frisbee-er.

3-year-old:  Yeah, I liked the part when they saw the shark picture like we have at our museum.  

(The Mommy will insert context to the three-year-old's commentary:  "our museum" is the MFA Boston where we go several times a month and "the shark picture" is Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley.  There are three versions of this painting.  The original (of three) is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the third is in the American Art wing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  For more on this painting and its story see the National Gallery's informative page here.  And I guarantee that this shark painting will make other appearances in the future.  My boys are obsessed and fascinated by it!)

probably enjoyed most by children ages 3+