Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist. 2001. 114 pp. Lexile 1100. Available as paperback and e-book.
This highly readable biography, which focuses on the
artist’s life more than his art, is one of the better choices at this grade
level of the books in CCSS’s Appendix B.
(It's o.p. except as an e-book.) The authors, known for their YA
books about art and artists, deftly employ narrative devices found more often
in fiction, such as cliff hangers at the end of chapters, making the short book
a good read-aloud. The many quotes from
Van Gogh’s correspondence with his brother, Theo, bring him to life, clearing
up mysteries and humanizing him.
Web Tie-Ins
Students can further explore letters written
by and to Van Gogh at a website of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.
Students can
look at the many paintings of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, organized both
alphabetically and by category, presented with useful notes.
