Matte Stephens

This was a delightful book! When I was in fifth grade, the school trip was a bus ride to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. I was mesmerized by the taxidermized animals in beautiful 3 D painted settings.

When reading this book, I learned from Rhoda Knight Kalt, who was the grand daughter of the man who was the artistic man behind many of the paintings in the museum.

Charles R. Knight was famous for his artistry in many museums. He brought dinosaurs and many animals to life. Actually, as I sat in the rooms of the museum, I did think they came alive at night. The darkened rooms were eerie.

Rhoda takes us on a journey with her grandfather, with whom she had a loving, close relationship. Trips to the museum were always fun and informative as he lovingly described the environment of the animals and the lives they lived. She notes that her grand father was legally blind as a result of a childhood accident. Still, he was capable of bringing these animals, including saber-toothed cats to life.

This is an incredibly informative, fun book of life in New York City with her grandfather and the days they also spent at The Plaza Hotel for tea, and the Central Park Zoo and well as the Bronx Zoo.

Highly recommended. This is a library book, but I plan to purchase a copy for my library of illustrated books.… (meer)

Rhoda loves spending time with her grandfather (affectionately called "Toppy") in New York City, visiting such places as museums and zoos.

This is an unusual book as it appears like it is going to be a fictional story about a grandparent and a grandchild spending time together doing fun adventures. Instead, it's sort of a biography about an artist, which is unexpected based on the book's cover and a quick scan of the dust jacket information.

Before reading this book, I had no clue who Charles Knight was, let alone biographical details about his life. The main story shares some highlights, while backmatter helps to flesh out the true story. While written by a children's book author, Knight's real-life granddaughter Rhoda was involved in the process.

The illustrations are a mix of lively, colorful paintings with some of Knight's own work smattering the pages here and there. An illustrator's note at the end of the book remarks on a strange coincidence -- both this illustrator and Knight make/made art despite dealing with loss of eyesight.

I did find this book rather interesting, but more so on a second read when I was more aware of what I was getting in to with this title. Speaking of titles, my 8-year-old niece was quite unhappy with this book's name -- she felt it was misleading because the tigers and the tea party are separate from each other; the cover suggests that Toppy and Rhoda were going to share tea at the zoo.… (meer)