The conceit at the center of this celebration of art and color? Tell a pleasingly repetitive tale featuring the Dutch post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh without ever mentioning his full name. The eponymous Vincent (big-headed, bug-eyed, and ginger-bearded) sets out to paint the exterior of a charming little stucco house reminiscent of the iconic The Yellow House in Arles. Juggling a box of paint tubes, artist Vincent loads up his palette with a variety of saturated colors. Momentarily daunted by choice, he thinks, "White is nice," and selects four tubes of white paint (snow, ivory, titanium, cream) to begin. But then: "Stop!" A sweet succession of tiny resident art criticsa spider, a bird, a mouse, a termite, a caterpillar, and a ladybugall offer their own contributions to the project. Along with each color callout, a section of the painter's palette is shown with a range of hues laid out; the paint tubes' color labels are prominently displayed. By book's end, that once-drab house is now painted in a quiet riot of broken color strokes and cozily situated under a swirling night sky. Arnold's computer-generated art finesses the pigments and represents the textural effects of this great painter's hand. Savvy parents and teachers will truly enjoy sharing this, both as an inspiration for art projects and as a low-key, kid-friendly introduction to this accessible painter. So very Van Gogh and so very satisfying! (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

K-Gr 2- In Vincent Paints His House, Arnold uses van Gogh's famous relationship to color as the point of entry for young readers; the artist can't make up his mind what color he likes best. "White is nice," he says. But the creatures around the house soon make their opinions known; the spider likes red, the caterpillar likes yellow, and so on. The result is a house painted all the colors, and "everyone was happy." The final page shows the house as an element of van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night. Arnold manages to infuse van Gogh's brush strokes and palette into his own distinctive art style and the mash-up offers a successful introduction to the painter, though he limits his audience with its simplicity. Art teachers may find this book a useful tool, and fans of Arnold's other work will welcome another opportunity for easy reading and deep looking. More insight into van Gogh's color sense can be found in the well-received Vincent's Colors (Chronicle, 2005), and Laurence Anholt's Van Gogh and the Sunflowers (Eerdmans, 2011) is an age-appropriate biographical story. VERDICT Recommended.-Lisa Lehmuller, East Providence School District, RI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A familiar-looking artist named Vincent is about to paint his house white until a spider, caterpillar, snake, and more and have other ideas. Vincent solves the dilemma with a cheerful creation using each one's favorite color. The amusing, simple story, ending with a Starry Night homage, could be a springboard for introducing young kids to the alluded-to artist. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Vincent has decided to paint his house but what color would be best? White sounds nice. He imagines it gleaming against a very Van Gogh landscape rendered in thick slathers of paint, before pulling out tubes of pigment labeled snow, ivory, titanium, and cream. But Vincent has barely begun to paint when he is stopped by a spider who also lives in the house and wants it painted red. Vincent returns to his paint box and finds tubes of rose, crimson, scarlet, and vermilion. But then he is stopped by a yellow-loving caterpillar, a beetle taken with purple, and a bird keen on blue. More critters come out of the woodwork, each wielding a different colored paintbrush. By the end, Vincent's abode is a mottled rainbow of color that pleases everyone. Arnold, best known for his Fly Guy series, uses a simple, engaging formula to introduce readers to different colors and reinforces this palette with appealing, cartoonish illustrations. A starry night fittingly swirls around the painter's house at the story's end.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2015 Booklist