These beautiful book and card game combinations are winners of a Parents' Choice Gold Medal as well as the Editor's Choice Grand Prize winner of ForeWord Magazine, which calls them "the perfect combination of education and entertainment." I agree! A gorgeous gift for the art lover in your life, or an elegant introduction to art for children, these books and card games come packaged in sturdy decorative boxes that are worthy of mention because they are lovely in and of themselves.

The Impressionist Art Game comes with a 76-page, high quality, paperback book and a deck of art cards. The book begins with a four-page introduction to the world of the Impressionists followed by a double-page pictorial timeline from 1830 to 1920. Next read short biographies of the eight featured Impressionists: Manet, Pissarro, Degas, Morisot, Monet, Renoir, Cassatt, and Caillebotte. For each artist, the book features four of his or her paintings, each on a double-page spread with background information and a focus on details of the painting and art techniques. There is just the right amount of information offered to be interesting but not overwhelming for children.

The accompanying cards are beautiful, with a detail from each of the thirty-two paintings from the book on each card along with the artist's name and title of the painting. These cards are numbered by artist for easy reference. Directions for Concentration and Go Fish are included with the deck.

Birdcage Press also sells The Renaissance Art Game and The Van Gogh and Friends Art Game. You can buy the books and cards separately, but then you will miss out on the lovely storage boxes. Highly recommended!

-Product Review by Heather Jackowitz, Contributing Writer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2006