You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman #21

Weitzman, J. P. (1998). You can’t take a balloon into the Metropolitan Museum. Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. New York: Puffin Books.

Book Type/Pages:

Picture/35

Grade Level:

Pre-Kindergarten through third grade

Curriculum Links:

Art

Author Credibility:

The author and illustrator acknowledge staff from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the Plaza Hotel, which are also featured in the book.

Awards:

ALA Notable Book

American Bookseller Pick of the Lists

New York Public Library "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"

A Child Study Children's Book Committee Children's Book of the Year

Book Summary:

This is a wordless picture book that shows different art pieces on display on The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A little girl has a balloon that she is not allowed to take into the museum and the balloon causes events to happen that resemble different art pieces being viewed inside the museum.

National/State Standards:

National Art Education Standards:
Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others

Illustrations/Graphics:

The illustrations of this book were made using black ink, watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils. Each page is full of detailed illustrations. Some pages have several pictures on each page. The illustrations tell the story of the balloon that is not allowed in the museum, while the balloon’s owner is inside enjoying the works of art.

Access Features:

Important access features in this book include author acknowledgements, a list of the works of art reproduced in the book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and end papers that drawn in the same style of the book.

Writing Style:

There is no written text in this book but the pictures tell a cute and funny story. The illustration rich story would be welcoming to low readers.

Use in My Classroom:

I would use this as a part of an art unit. I think this would be a great book to use as a part of a writing lesson. It would be great to have students look through the pictures and then compose the written story of the balloon or the little girl.

My Response to the Book:

I thought this was a great book. It made me look closely at the art pieces and compare them to the events outside of the museum with the balloon. This would be good to use with students to explain the saying, “Life imitating art.”

Related Texts:

Similar books by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman:
You Can’t Take a Balloon into the Museum of Fine Arts
You Can’t Take a Balloon into the National Gallery