Mayhew's Katie continues her exploration of the world of painting when she and her grandmother visit the art gallery on a hot Sunday afternoon. Seurat's Bathers at Asnières looks so inviting that she climbs into the picture, as is her wont. Splashing about with the boy in the red hat, however, tilts the frame so that the river begins pouring into the gallery. Katie can't resist inviting a little girl in white from Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ("no one is allowed to swim in this painting," she sighs) to join her and the boy in the gallery, and soon all the ladies and gentlemen of Grand Jatte are hitching up their skirts and trousers to wade, too. When a gallery guard threatens to appear, other paintings provide boats and drying clothes to get everyone back where they should be. Mayhew as always transmutes his light and fresh style to what Katie is looking at--Pointillism in this case. No single museum owns all these paintings, of course, but in an afterword, Mayhew tells youngsters where they are and how to see them as well as a little bit about the artists. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr. 1-3. One summer day, Katie and her grandmother head for the art museum, but the gallery is uncomfortably warm. When Katie spies Georges Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres, the painting is so vivid that she can almost feel the breeze and hear the river, so she climbs over the frame and inside the picture. As Grandma snoozes, Katie dons her swimsuit and splashes into the river. When water starts pouring out of the painting into the gallery, the dual realities merge quite--fluidly. Katie (and Jacques from Bathers) jump in and out of famous pointillist paintings until they have to borrow a boat from Seurat's Port of Honfleur. In the end, the magician from Paul Signac's Portrait of Felix Feneon restores order just as the guard comes around the bend. The watercolor artwork is in a simple impressionistic style. A note about the pointillists Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Camille Pissarro closes another of Mayhew's playful, imaginative celebrations of the happy fusion of life and art. --Karin Snelson Copyright 2005 Booklist

PreS-Gr 3-As in Katie and the Sunflowers (2001) and Katie and the Mona Lisa (1999, both Scholastic), Mayhew continues his picture-book explorations of masterpieces with this foray into the world of the Pointillists. This time, his protagonist cools off on a hot day at the museum by climbing into Georges Seurat's Bathers at Asni?res. As she rests on the edge of the frame, it tilts, spilling water into the gallery. When the child hops over into Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and invites a young girl to play with her in the gallery's rising water, the other figures are quick to follow. The climax features the footsteps of a guard and a last-minute save by the magic of the gentleman from Paul Signac's Portrait of Felix Feneon. While the paintings Mayhew combines cannot actually be found in a single museum, the juxtaposition allows him to introduce famous examples of Pointillism. Acknowledgements and brief biographical notes clarify locations and present basic facts about the artists. Although Mayhew's copies are brighter and less subtle than the originals, children will get the point. The book will serve as a lighthearted introduction or follow-up to Robert Burleigh's fascinating and interactive presentation of both the artist and his controversial piece in Seurat and La Grande Jatte (Abrams, 2004).-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In her latest art adventure, Katie discovers pointillism by wading in and out of paintings by Seurat, Signac, and Pissarro, nearly flooding the museum in the process and rather sinking the story in contrivance. The reproductions of the original paintings provide sharp contrast to Mayhew's pallid watercolor illustrations. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.