Luna Loves Art

By Author / Illustrator

Joseph Coelho, Fiona Lumbers

Genre

Representation & Inclusion

Age range(s)

Publisher

Andersen Press Ltd

ISBN

9781783448661

Format

Hardback

Published

02-07-2020

Synopsis

"Luna Loves Art offers [the comfort that] not all families look the same - and that is a great message to celebrate." Laura Dockrill. At the gallery, Luna is transfixed by the famous art, but her classmate Finn doesn't seem to want to be there at all. Finn's family doesn't look like the one in Henry Moore's 'Family Group' sculpture, but then neither does Luna's. Maybe all Finn needs is a friend. Join Luna and Finn at the Art Gallery and step inside famous works of art by Van Gogh, Henri Rousseau, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and more! Can you spot all the art?

Created by award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, this book follows Luna Loves Library Day as an introduction to different types of family. Featuring artwork from: Damian Hirst, Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, Edouard Manet, Piet Mondrian, Paul Cezanne, Kazimir Malevich, Vincent Van Gogh, Yayoi Kusama and Henri Rousseau.

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Reviews

Luna Loves Art is a sweet story about Luna, and her classmate's adventures to the Art Gallery. It is school trip day, Luna is ready and raring to go, mum is a parent helper, Miss Rosa is ready and waiting to get the children on the bus and everyone is excited, everyone that is, except Finn. Finn is alone, he is sad and doesn't care about the Art Gallery and what it has to offer.

At the Art Gallery, Luna explores all of the amazing art work created by some of the world's most inspirational artists, such as Rousseau, Cezanne, Warhol, Van Gogh and many more. The children are given the opportunity to savour the colours and textures as well as create their own pictures inspired by the range of images they see and the stories they tell.

Although Luna is enjoying her time at the art gallery, she is very aware that Finn is not. Finn's family doesn't look like the one in Henry Moore's 'Family Group' sculpture and so Luna and her mum try to help Finn understand that families come in all shapes and sizes and that art can be a great way of expressing feelings.

This book is a fantastic introduction to art for primary age children. The artwork chosen to feature in this story are iconic pieces, many of which are studied in the key stage 1 and 2 curriculums for art at school. Each of these pieces, such as Koons 'Balloon Dog' and Moore's Bronze 'Family Group' can be seen on the end papers of the book, captioned with the name, artist and date created.

I love that the illustrations show children enjoying the artwork and discussing what they can see in their own words. Art and art galleries, in my opinion, can sometimes seem inaccessible to young children. Stuffy places where you can't touch anything, talk and or have fun. I read this story to my two young daughters and they immediately had a buzz for art, the eldest was able to recall past experiences at our local art gallery and the youngest became excited at the thought of visiting a gallery asap. This story showed an outing to the art gallery fun filled. This story is a great read before or after any trip.

I'm sure this text will prove a fantastic resource in the classroom for myself. Many of the children I teach haven't ever been to visit an art gallery and if not with a school trip are likely to never get to enjoy this experience in childhood. Books like this are vital in bringing these opportunities closer to home and the curriculum to life.

Picture book / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher