The Sleeping Gypsy

Reviewed by: Anne Donovan - Long Island Community Library, Long Island, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 13, 2016

Review

Caldecott Medal winner Mordicai Gerstein presents the origins of Henri Rousseau's best known painting, The Sleeping Gypsy, through a dream the famous artist may have had that inspired it. In the prologue we see a young girl in black and white viewing the painting and wondering: Who is the girl? Why is she sleeping in the desert? Will the lion harm her or wander off? The book then becomes Rousseau's dream of the girl and her journey.The acrylic and watercolor illustrations are richly colored and detailed but rapidly become confusing as not only the lion but a rabbit, a snake and a lizard join the girl and the moon begins to talk. The artist then arrives and begins his painting but cuts out the animals one by one as they comment and criticize. The rather scary lion threatens to eat him so remains in the painting. Then the artist wakes up in his black and white loft and finishes his painting.The questions posed in the prologue are not answered or even hinted at. Young children are apt to be confused as are older children perhaps doing an art/artist study.

Overall Book Score: good