Vincent Can't Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky

Using Vincent van Gogh's lifelong insomnia and his famous 1889 painting The Starry Night, Rosenstock and GrandPre (the team behind Caldecott honoree The Noisy Paintbox, rev. 1/14; about artist Kandinsky) have created a picture-book biography that is also a bedtime story. Little Vincent lies in bed awake, thinking about the night sky, so he runs outside and takes a look. Next we meet him as an adolescent at school, struggling to fit in and comforted by his nighttime painting sessions. Then as an adult, we see him trying one profession after another, always fascinated by the sky and eager to go outside, look around, and think about what the darkness does to daylight colors. While shut inside a hospital, he creates a masterpiece that is "strange and restless, like Vincent himself." With his painting complete, he finally sleeps on the last spread. Rosenstock's text is economical and evocative, introducing the essence of this famously troubled and sensitive man. GrandPre's paintings and drawings reveal her own ease with color and a deft mimicry of Van Gogh's style. An author's note and list of sources fill out the story and include three reproductions of the artist's paintings. lolly robinson