I’m pretty biased towards children’s books that are art themed. So it’s no surprise that James Mayhew’s Katie series is one of my personal favorites. I enjoyed collecting them (hehe) and now I’m enjoying reading them out loud to my boys.
Katie Art Books by James Mayhew
The series follows a little girl called Katie as she explores the world of art by going in and out of various paintings. There are currently 13 titles in the series (though not all are about art.)
A Great Introduction to Art
The Katie books are a great way to introduce your children to famous artists and their paintings. Each book incorporates around 5 paintings into the storyline and the paintings are all of either a particular artist or a specific art style.
Katie and the Mona Lisa for example introduces kids to Renaissance Art. Meanwhile, Katie and the Spanish Princess features the great Spanish Masters such as Goya and Velasquez. Then there’s Katie and the Starry Night, which features paintings by only a single artist, Vincent Van Gogh.
Makes “Picture Study” More Interesting
I try to make it a point to incorporate a lot of art into our homeschool lessons because I believe that it’s important to expose children to all things that are beautiful in this world (and that includes beautiful art!)
So Luke and I have “Picture Study” wherein we look and discuss about a painting. (Related post: Van Gogh for Little Kids) The Katie books have been very helpful in making the paintings even more interesting!
As Katie goes on to have adventure after adventure inside the different paintings, the reader is invited to explore the details. And as you do, you are unknowingly familiarizing yourself with the different works of art.
Read “Katie and the Sunflowers” for example, and tell me you don’t see Katie getting into trouble in a cafe in France the next time you see Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night!
I also love how the different characters in the paintings take on personalities and interacts with Katie! In “Katie and the Spanish Princess”, Katie plays with Margarita, the little princess in Velasquez’ masterpiece, Las Meninas. The next time your kids see the painting, they’ll probably remember the story of little Margarita!
Overall:
As I said, I love these books and love how they were able to help familiarize Luke with many great artists and their works. The illustrations on the book are beautiful but more importantly, the stories are engaging.
Because I’m a huge fan of Van Gogh and Monet, my favorites from the series are “Katie and the Starry Night” and “Katie and the Waterlily Pond” but you can’t go wrong with any of the books from the set. I have collected all of James Mayhew’s art-themed Katie books and love them all!
I highly recommend getting the whole series.
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5 Comments
Mama_telyamzon
December 5, 2019 at 5:29 pmThe paintings of this book of Katie Art Books are so attractive. Especially with the kids. Me also want to have this one. I love seeing this kind of art and the story is so interesting. Thanks for sharing Mommy Sheena! Love the photos.
Lace
April 24, 2020 at 10:36 pmHello! Where did you get your copies?
Sheena Sy Gonzales
April 25, 2020 at 2:38 pmSecondhand bookshops online
Robert
July 25, 2022 at 8:55 pmThanks for this review, Sheena. I have leafed through the Katie books when I have been in art galleries and agree that they are very good. I plan to buy them for my niece once she is old enough.
Sheena Sy Gonzales
November 17, 2022 at 10:18 pmI hope she likes it!!