The ­Vincent van Gogh Atlas

Gr 5 Up–In this European import, the authors trace Vincent van Gogh’s life as he traveled, succeeded, failed, and grew into an artist. Through short paragraphs, many photographs and maps, as well as numerous reproductions of van Gogh’s drawings, sketches and paintings, this atlas has much to share with readers. Denekamp and van Blerk write in narrative nonfiction style with few paragraphs per page, thus keeping this work interesting and less intimidating for readers. Topics, such as literal horsepower to the use of trains and other interesting tidbits, are mentioned and explained further in sidebars. The authors do not shy away from the artist’s troubles, but rather handle them with compassion. The loss of his ear and eventual suicide are discussed, but van Gogh’s death is described without the using the word. Gratama’s graphic novel–style illustrations show van Gogh with bandages in the expected places after his aforementioned injury. While the illustration style may be familiar to readers, it adds to the striking visual contrast within the work.