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Jane O'Connor: Henri Matisse (2002, Grosset & Dunlap) 4 stars

Keesia and Henri Matisse have the same birthday—New Year’s Eve! That’s why she picks him …

Super adorable.

4 stars

Fictional stories in picture books about artists are... oddly common, but this one is so well done! Instead of fictionalising the life of the artist, it combines a non-fiction element of who Henri Matisse was and what he did with the story of a fictional young girl who seems to be doing a biography about him.

This is a wonderfully creative way to treat a biography of a person or a story of an event.