Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance

Middle School

To create beauty from nothing, that alone is magic.

Claudia Miravista loves art, but socially she is always the odd girl. One day on a trip to the local art museum she sees a boy in a painting, who moves from painting to painting. Soon she embarks on an adventure behind the canvas, determined to free the boy Pim from the artistic prison he has endured for over three hundred years.

This book got me thinking after just two paragraphs. This book starts out strong, gets right to the point. I like books like this, capturing you on the first page. Not many books can do that.

My idea of great art is animated movies/TV shows and comics. When I go to art museums and see all those painting with their fine detail, I just feel intimidated. It’s like they’re mocking me.

Anyone reading this remember ‘ChalkZone’ on Nickelodeon?

ChalkZone is a show about Rudy Tabootie, whose magic chalk allows him into the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything drawn on a blackboard and erased becomes real. If you love ChalkZone, you’ll love this book. It’s kind of like ChalkZone but with oil paint and canvas instead of chalk and chalkboards.

My favorite parts in the book were the footnotes from Dr. Buckhardt’s Art History for the Enthusiast and the Ignorant, a mini art encyclopedia Claudia carries around. These footnotes are filled with interesting facts about artists and pieces of fine art but are at the same time humorous.