KidsBuzz

Barb Rosenstock

Dear Librarians,

You change lives every time you recommend a book or run a community program. I should know, because YOU and your colleagues inspired my new book, VINCENT CAN'T SLEEP!

When our last book, The Noisy Paint Box, won a 2015 Caldecott honor, Mary Grandpré and I could not have been more thrilled or thankful. Since we'd never met in person, we decided to have breakfast the morning of ALA's Caldecott banquet. For almost two years, I'd been trying to write a picture book about Vincent van Gogh, but couldn't find the right theme...Clouds? No. Sunflowers? No. His missing ear? Definitely NOT! Over coffee, Mary mentioned that she was working on some new paintings and "couldn't sleep." TA-DA! I realized that even as a child, Van Gogh struggled to sleep. And what is Vincent's most famous painting? "The Starry Night," of course! Librarians brought us together and our new book was born!

We hope to inspire young creators with VINCENT CAN'T SLEEP, the story of one of the world's most famous painters and paintings. I spent fascinating nights researching details of Van Gogh's childhood, and Mary even copied some of Vincent's paintings in miniature to get the feeling of his brushstrokes just right. This book had to be perfect, for Vincent, for children, and for you.

You can enter to win a free autographed copy by emailing me at barb@barbrosenstock.com. I hope you enjoy sharing VINCENT CAN'T SLEEP with creative young readers, and thanks for the inspiration!

Colorfully yours,
Barb Rosenstock
www.BarbRosenstock.com



"Together, text and pictures balance his unsettled melancholy against beauty and harmony....A soft, sad, lovely introduction to a masterpiece." —Kirkus Reviews — starred review