Synopsis: One day, a strange man arrives in Camille's town. It is the artist, Vincent van Gogh. His extraordinary paintings of the sunflowers and the Starry Night entrance the young boy. But not everyone appreciates the genius of Camille's 'Sunflower Man'...

Review: The story is told from the point of view of Camille, a real-life boy whose family had a friendship with van Gogh. The use of a child's perspective renders the subject matter more accessible for children, helps to disguise the educational aspect of the book and brings a fresh sense of wonder to the artist. The narrative involves van Gogh producing some of his works; the paintings referred to are reproduced and cleverly inserted into Anholt's illustrations. The illustrations are bright and cheerful, with a couple of repeated motifs, such as van Gogh's pipe and straw hat, to ensure the images are simple but memorable. There is a nod towards the darker side of  van Gogh's life, in an illustration showing van Gogh with a bandage around his head, covering his ear. The detail is fairly inconspicuous and not referred to in the accompanying text. The writing is simple and spare but with well-chosen words, which should leave children effortlessly remembering that van Gogh painted sunflowers, and that he was unappreciated in his lifetime. The themes are that of being patient, whilst not giving up, in the face of rejection and tolerance of people who are different. There is a touching scene in which Camille comes across the sunflowers he picked for van Gogh, dead in their vase; van Gogh then surprises Camille with his painting of them in their prime. This scene could be used to start a discussion of art as a means of capturing beauty which, in nature, is only transient. The main part of the text ends on an uplifting note, showing how popular van Gogh's art is today. In smaller text, on the opposite page, there is a concise overview of van Gogh's life, which includes his mental illness, the attempt to cut off his ear and suicide. This is obviously useful for the general knowledge of older, more inquisitive children; it might upset younger, more sensitive children.