Arlo's ARTrageous Adventure!

PreS-Gr 3—Baseball-loving Arlo accompanies his grandmother to the museum, where flaps open to reveal the art acting in all sorts of surprisingly goofy ways. The fascinated child behaves well, so Grandma promises him another outing-a trip to the opera. While the humorously subversive behavior of the artwork is a treat, it is based on the unfortunate premise that art museums are stuffy and boring. Grandma is blind to what Arlo sees, preaching a serious adult point of view throughout their trip with statements like, "They [pieces of art] need to be studied carefully to appreciate their beauty." While adults may argue that Arlo is taking Grandma's words to heart and looking at the art through an engaged imagination, kids will likely think that the paintings are magically coming to life for his eyes only. The cartoon artwork is clean and stylized, working well in the museum setting. Fifty cleverly designed flaps transform individual works and sometimes neighboring pieces as well; some flaps help the subjects to reach beyond their frames to interact with Arlo. The final multiflap construct advertising the opera has an awkward moment in which the interim picture doesn't make sense (it combines the tops of armchairs and the legs of opera-goers) but this is a minor quibble. Fully unfolded, the scene is quite exciting, and Arlo's own flap opens to reveal him shouting "Hooray!" at the prospect of attending. This title is best used with children already exposed to the "culture is boring" myth-after all, why dampen the enthusiasm of those untainted by that message?—Heidi Estrin, Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL