Linnea in Monet's Garden

Linnea, a fresh-faced European girl with a mop of black hair and a white smock, gives a solid lesson in art history in the gentlest way, through a first-person account. Her story is like a scrapbook, reliving a trip she took to Paris and Giverny to learn about Monet's water-lily paintings. Airy, light-filled watercolors showing Linnea in Monet's environment are juxtaposed with period photographs of the artist and reproductions of the paintings themselves. The focus is always on the specific. Monet's brushstrokes are examined (Linnea terms them ""splotchy''). A section is devoted to expressionism: ``Even stone walls could shimmer sometimes.'' Also included are Monet's biography, a family tree and a brief guide to Paris. But, it is the sense of being there, and Linnea's own enthusiasm, that carries the book. Ages 7-up. (October)