Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance - OPTIONAL

Vance, Alexander Behind the Canvas, 336 pages. Feiwel & Friends, 2016.

Language: G ( 2 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (danger, fighting).

Claudia is drifting off to sleep on night when she spots someone lurking in the background of the painting in her bedroom - the same boy she spotted earlier in the day when she was on tour of an art museum with her class.  Claudia learns about the world behind each of the paintings and that Pim, the boy, has been trapped in that world for centuries, by an evil woman, an Artisti, who has been using Pim’s life force to also keep herself alive.  Claudia agrees to help Pim find a way to free himself.  What she doesn’t bargain for is what life behind the canvases is really like and that just because you like someone doesn’t mean that you can trust them.

Students who like Blue Balliett art mysteries or Marianne Malone’s Sixty-Eight Rooms series, will certainly enjoy Claudia and her adventures.  While it seems there is room for this to be a series, this book is definitely a complete story in and of itself.  

EL, MS - OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher