VINCENT VAN GOGH

In a small and sturdy volume in the Tell Me About series, Malam briefly recounts the story of the life of Vincent van Gogh. An accessible design combines his work with photographs of important people and places in his life. While including pertinent details of van Gogh’s struggle to become an artist, Malam puts mental illness in the foreground. That subject and the easy-reader format may seem at odds, but the artwork is well chosen, and nicely reproduced on durable paper. A three-entry glossary is nearly useless—if readers don’t know artist, art dealer, and gallery, how will they be able to grasp the meaning of mental illness? (chronology, index) (Biography. 5-8)