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Summary:
This book is about the life of the famous artist, Claude Monet. It goes through his time as a man in the French army. It also portrays the ridicule that he received for his artwork throughout his life and how he had a lot of financial struggle. Monet continued to explore his artwork regardless of what people thought about it.

Personal Reaction:
It is a great biography of a man that has done nothing but get ridiculed and experience a rough life that still becomes such an influential artist in history. It shows children that no matter what people say, it is important to be true to yourself and persevere towards what you want.

Classroom extension:
1. Paint something. Anything you want. It can be a picture, or simply just color swirls on the paper.
2. Journal: What is something you have been picked on for? ( )

Who Was Claude Monet? by Ann Waldron is a good book about the artist. I love these history books and this one explains how the artist came to paint his unique style. It gets wrapped up a little too much in side issues near the end but it picks back up again. ( )

Summary:
This biography follows the life of the famous painter, Claude Monet. As a child, he loved drawing and would draw funny pictures of his neighbors. He later joined the French army as a young soldier in Africa, but had to leave two years later because he caught typhoid fever. For the rest of his life, he continued to paint until he passed away from lung cancer.

Personal Reaction:
I have always enjoyed Claude Monet's work, but have never read about him before. It was really interesting to read about his life, his thought-processes, and the story behind some of his paintings.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Have the students draw funny pictures of themselves, their family members, their friends, or even their neighbor.
2. Have the students recreate Monet's paintings.

This is a biography about Claude Monet. This is a great biography series on giving background information on famous people. This book would be good to use for an art class when talking about impressionists and his artwork. Also, a great introduction to countries such as talking about the culture of France. I visited Paris, France and saw his famous water lilies and bridge. Teachers could use their experience with traveling and art history. The best ages again would be 3-6 grade. This is a great book to get students started into writing.