Review by Booklist Review
The real fun of this book for the already art savvy is in recognizing the slew of famous works whose photo replications compose the hypothetical museum. An animated ticket, Stub, and his name-tag-shaped docent, Daisy, lead our tour. Isn't that the Mona Lisa hiding behind a packing crate? The googly-eyed characters make it quite enjoyable to pick up the book and get a feel for what makes a museum work, explaining both public and private areas. Security cameras, international signage, and computers on which archivists catalog collections are represented by photos pasted collage-style to colorful backgrounds. Just as useful is that the associated terms directors, conservators, exhibitions, galleries are explained. Yes, the spreads are busy, but much like a museum, you can choose what to investigate. The back matter acknowledges the artworks making cameos. All in all, an entertaining effort to inform children about museums and their purpose.--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
An anthropomorphized name tag named Daisy gives a discarded "Admit One" ticket stub (named Stub) a tour of an art museum-doing the same for readers in the process-in an informative but dry offering from Goldin (Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher). Although Goldin's fictional museum is packed with famous works of art (van Gogh's Starry Night and da Vinci's Mona Lisa sit on the ground beside crates waiting to be unpacked), this isn't an art history lesson. As Daisy guides Stub through the galleries, she discusses the museum's layout, operations (including security systems and temperature controls), and various staff responsibilities, from conservators to archivists. The book works best as a basic introduction to what a museum is and how it works; the paintings and sculptures are ID'd on the closing page, but it's difficult to imagine readers flipping back and forth. Furthermore, with the story's emphasis on processes and protocols (no touching the art, please!), Daisy and Stub may not inspire much enthusiasm for a day at the museum. Ages 4-8. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-In this picture-book introduction to art museums, Stub (a ticket stub left behind on the museum floor) meets Daisy (a docent's name tag), who offers to show him around. They tour both public and private sections of the building, including the delivery room, galleries, education room, and cafeteria. Along the way, Daisy gives an overview of the daily operations of a museum, discussing preservation, security, curation, and conservation. At the end of the tour, Stub wanders into the restoration room, where he gets stuck to a collage and inadvertently becomes part of an exhibit himself. Back matter includes a list of the artworks pictured in the book. While the volume offers an adequate overview of museum operations, it is marred by sloppy design and unappealing characters. Stub and Daisy consist of a ticket stub and a name tag, respectively, with painted cartoon faces. Placing them beside works by Van Gogh and Seurat is visually jarring. Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman's You Can't Take a Balloon into the National Gallery (Dial, 2000) and sequels provide a more whimsical introduction to the subject.-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, Salisbury, MD (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
True to the subtitle, this book's cover delivers an amusing yet informative tour of an art museum. Once inside, endpapers reveal a museum floor plan complete with iconic signage to both orient youngsters and welcome them to a lively behind-the-scenes tour of an imagined museum. The guides are an old-schoolstyle, green-paper entry ticket named Stub and a pink-and-white "Hello my name is" sticker called Daisy, the museum docent's helper. Daisy takes Stub on a wonderful wander from the coat check through storage, galleries and more. Security and art protection are pleasingly detailed by the anthropomorphized museum security badge (Badge), even as the two continue to check out the museum's kid-pleasing innards: temperature and climate controls, the cafe, water fountains, escalators, museum shop--even the art library. But when Stub wanders off into the conservation lab, a fan blows him into a freshly varnished collage (a humorous takeoff on Matisse's Dancers). Stub gets his wish. Firmly fixed on canvas, Stub is now part of the museum's permanent collection. Author, illustrator and fine artist Goldin collages in a number of iconic, favorite works of art and cleverly enlivens the collection with his own appealing and marvelously amusing sculptural assemblages. An engaging and enlivening introduction for kids and adults alike. ("Who's Who at the Museum," glossary, list of works) (Picture book. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
