Arnold, Tedd. Vincent Paints His House. New York: Holiday House, 2015. 978-0-8234-3210-3. 26p. $16.95. Gr. K-3.

Fly Guy author Tedd Arnold departs from his usual silliness with this nod to the painter Vincent Van Gogh. While the artist is never actually mentioned in the book, the main character Vincent, complete with reddish hair and beard like his namesake, sets out to paint his house. He struggles with what color to paint, as each page introduces another critter who voices its opinion. Through repetitive text, the story can be a simple introduction to colors or a more complex look (each page has a set of paint tubes with varying shades of the color, such as Cyan, Royal and Cerulean). As he gets increasingly covered in paint, the story builds to the final page which is a colorful house set in a “starry night” background.  Thoughts: This is book will be a hit on so many levels! Fly Guy fans will love the similar pictures, the bugs, and humor. Art teachers can use it to teach colors, basic or detailed, or to introduce Van Gogh. Definitely properly shelved as “E ARN”, it can be paired nicely with many primary art books for library or art class lessons.

Picture Book     Lisa Weiss, Churchville Elementary School