Painting Pepette

Lodding (A Gift for Mama) and Fletcher (Look at Me, Grandma) transport readers to 1920s Paris as a girl and her cherished stuffed rabbit, Pepette, pay a visit to the bustling Montmartre district. Perusing the family portraits in her Parisian home, Josette decides that Pepette deserves a portrait of her own. In Montmartre, several (now-well-known) painters declare their infatuation with Pepette and ask to recreate her likeness on canvas, but the results don't please Josette--or Pepette. Picasso gives the rabbit three ears and two noses, Dali renders her "droopy," Chagall sends her flying through the clouds, and Matisse paints her pink, insisting that "through art we can see the world any way we want." Unimpressed, Josette taps into her own creativity to paint Pepette herself. Fletcher's paintings have a loose, dappled quality as she elegantly evokes the fictional characters, the real-life artists, their work, and Paris itself. The artists are not identified in the book, only mentioned in passing in an author's note, so adult readers will likely need to provide context. Ages 4-8. (June)

Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

K-Gr 2--Little Josette Bobette and her beloved rabbit, Pepette, live happily together in 1920s Paris. Their favorite activity is cuddling in a beautiful room full of portraits of Josette's family. One day, Josette realizes that Pepette is not represented on the wall. The two set out for Montmartre, where all the best artists in Paris paint, to procure a portrait for Pepette. After encountering four famous artists who paint the rabbit beautifully but in their individual styles, Josette takes matters into her own hands, creating the perfect portrait to hang on the wall. A brief author's note identifies the artists (Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and Henri Matisse) and discusses the artistic culture of the time. Lovely watercolor illustrations in a subdued but colorful palette are well suited to a sweet story that textually and visually depicts the enchanting ambience of Paris. Introducing readers to the unique styles of these masters, the story works whether used as a jumping-off point for learning about painters or simply as one-on-one pleasure reading. Josette is reminiscent of Madeline, skipping around the streets of Paris with a bow on her head. VERDICT There's plenty of charm and whimsy in this gentle tale. A good general purchase for one-on-one and small group sharing.--Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, La Crosse Public Library, WI

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Josette Bobette and her rabbit, Pepette, lived at #9 Rue Laffette, Paris." So begins Painting Pepette, the irresistible story of a girl who is so attached to her stuffed rabbit she's convinced her portrait deserves a spot in the family gallery along with "grand-mére and grand-pére."

She takes Pepette to Montmartre, to the famous Parisian square "where the best artists in Paris painted." A man who is Picasso (identified inside the front cover and in the author's note but not in the story itself) spots her beloved rabbit and exclaims, "THOSE EARS!" Amusingly, he proceeds to paint Pepette with two noses and three ears. The three-eared portrait is hilarious... and not to Josette's taste at all... "And Pepette had to agree." A man with a bicycle-handlebar moustache stops to gaze at Pepette: "Please, I must paint the very essence of her rabbitness!" This is Dali. His portrait of the rabbit shows her draped bonelessly over a block, and is too "droopy" for Josette... "And Pepette had to agree." Chagall paints a flying-cloud rabbit (but Pepette is scared of heights!) and Matisse makes her too... pink. In the end, Josette knows just what she needs to do to capture her rabbit's "wonderfulness," her soft gray, listening ears and heart-shaped nose. She has to paint the portrait herself: "And Pepette had to agree."

Claire Fletcher's comical, endearing pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations have a shimmering-melting quality that enchantingly enhances Linda Ravin Lodding's deliciously told story, a brilliantly accessible take on the nature of artistic interpretation. As Matisse tells Josette, "But through art we can see the world any way we want." Not to be missed.— "Shelf Awareness in a STARRED REVIEW"