Review: Lisa Absolutely Loves Art

Lisa and her cat Picasso wander into an art gallery to look at a new exhibition. One moment they are together enjoying the artworks and the next, Picasso is missing. As Lisa searches for Picasso, she wanders through scenes from some of the paintings – Hokusai’s waves, a Degas dance class, Monet’s bridge and van Gogh’s starry night-sky to name a few. Where will she finally find her adventurous cat?

A gentle introduction to some of history’s most beloved artworks, Lisa Absolutely Loves Art blends the artworks into the background of the story as Lisa searches for her missing cat. After Lisa finds Picasso safe and sound, the book concludes with images and details of the eight artworks featured in the book. These include paintings by Hokusai, Rousseau, Monet, van Gogh, Degas, Seurat and Caillebotte.

I love books that introduce children to our cultural heritage, blending great works of art, historical figures, and other details into stories that engage their interest. This illustrations in this simple tale of Lisa’s search for her missing cat will hopefully intrigue young readers and the popularity of these particular works in modern pop culture should mean that children will have the opportunity to spot these images in other places to further engage their interest in learning more about art and artists.

A simple story with gorgeous illustrations by author/illustrator Sophie Norsa, Lisa Absolutely Loves Art is a lovely picture book for budding art lovers.

There are teachers' notes available for this book.

Title: Lisa Absolutely Loves Art
Author/Illustrator: Sophie Norsa
Publisher: New Frontier Publishing, $24.99 RRP
Publication Date: July 2014
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781925059045
For ages: 5 - 8
Type: Picture Book