Theediscerning's Reviews > Seeking Cézanne: a Children’s Mystery Inspired by Paul Cézanne and Other Artists

Hmmm... Well-meaning, but slightly clunky, this book has our young female narrator, Jamie, and her kid brother, both taken to a large art gallery by their grandma, who promptly gubbers off, leaving them to step into a painting. They're now on the shores of a lake in a lovely landscape by Albert Bierstadt, but cannot find a way home – every way they turn they find themselves looking at a different canvas. Through meeting people from other paintings they get told they must follow a trail of Cezanne works and find the man himself for the way back. So they – and we – get a lesson in what Cezannes look like, and art appreciation, and have a peculiar fantasy adventure layered on top. To me the mix of both halves in this edutainment was quite an ungainly one at times, with the kids wholly unrealistic when they discover art is supposed to make you feel, and the contrivance of the way-back adventure not helped by a cheesy, obvious kind of resolution. So while I think there is an admirable intent here, that was not quite matched by the story or its telling. That said, the journey the kids take through multiple images, the way the canvases follow each other to form a magical, ever-changing world yet knit together to create a logical path through the scenery of the book, is well-sustained.