From Publishers Weekly
When George Washington is invited to his friend Charles Wilson Peale's natural history museum, he falls for a sophisticated practical joke (involving trompe l'oeil). "Though humorous, the author's exclamatory style is sometimes strained," said PW. Ages 6-8. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 6-9. From the eighteenth-century journals of Rembrandt Peale comes an incident concerning Peale's father, Charles Willson Peale, and President Washington. The elder Peale was a portrait artist, an inventor, and the curator of his own natural history museum in Philadelphia. Visiting the museum, President Washington caught sight of two of the artist's sons ascending a back staircase and greeted them. When they failed to reply or even to move, he realized to his amazement that he had been fooled by a trompe l'oeil painting mounted in a door frame. Faintly echoing cubism as well as naive American art, Osborn's paintings have an inviting look that suits the tone of the text. Fresh and funny, the book shows Washington in a new light: as a man who could enjoy a joke, even one on himself. Although the tone of the writing is rather erudite for the usual picture-book audience, elementary-school teachers may want to read this aloud for Presidents' Day. Carolyn Phelan

From Kirkus Reviews
...Washington, that is, in a delightful vignette narrated by Rembrandt Peale--in whose father's remarkable museum the incident took place and on whose memoirs this account is based. Neatly setting the scene for the president's visit to view some wax figures, Peale notes Washington's punctilious courtesy in bowing ``to common servants and fine gentlemen alike'' and describes Charles Willson Peale's museum, unique--especially in its time-- as a mix of natural history exhibits and artifacts, particularly Peale's own paintings. In the context, readers won't be as startled as George is when two young Peales fail to return his greeting, but there's another surprise in store: the boys aren't waxworks but a trompe l'oeil painting so lifelike that it even fools the dogs. New Yorker artist Osborn makes a fine picture- book debut here. Her stylized art has a naive flavor, appropriately echoing Peale's paintings; its strong designs, crisp images, and decorative colors are spiced with a sly wit that wonderfully complements Tunnell's nicely understated text. A handsome, entertaining glimpse of times past. (Picture book. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Card catalog description
Briefly surveys the life of the early American portrait painter and describes an incident in which George Washington, visiting his natural history museum, was fooled by a lifelike painting of two of Peale's sons climbing a staircase.

ANNOTATION

Briefly surveys the life of the early American portrait painter and describes an incident in which George Washington, visiting his natural history museum, was fooled by a lifelike painting of two of Peale's sons climbing a staircase.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

George Washington falls victim to a sophisticated practical joke in this heavily embroidered historical anecdote. In Tunnell's telling, a presidential visit to painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale's natural history museum brackets a lengthy digression about Peale and his family. Touring the museum, the ever-polite George bows, he thinks, to two of Peale's sons as they ascend the stairs. But ``what George was looking at was the most incredible painting Mr. Peale would ever do . . . A wooden step extended the painted stairway out into the room. It was an illusion and a colossal joke!'' Tunnell ( Chinook! ) recruits yet another of Peale's 17 offspring as the text's chatty narrator; though humorous, the author's exclamatory style is sometimes strained. Osborn's ( Upon a Princess and a Pea ) colorful paintings similarly stress surface appeal over historical accuracy, for example, omitting cages for Peale's animals and inventing cubist canvases to fill Peale's studio. Poking fun at the first president may help interest children in Peale, but Barbara Morrow's less flashy Help for Mr. Peale handles period detail more carefully. Ages 5-up. (Aug.)

Children's Literature