You Can't Take a Balloon Into The Metropolitan Museum

You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum
by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman and Robin Preiss Glasser
1998

     In this beautifully illustrated wordless book a little girl and her grandmother head to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The little girl is carrying a yellow balloon and she's told she can't bring it inside the museum.  A guard offers to keep it safe until they're done with the museum visit.  As the girl and her grandma head inside the museum the balloon gets loose and begins its own adventure through New York City.  The balloon's encounters around the city mirror the scenes of paintings and sculptures the girl and grandma see inside.  One of my favorites is when the balloon makes its way into an Aida performance at the Lincoln Center at the same time as the girl and her grandmother are looking at the Egyptian wing of the museum.
     The detailed illustrations are delightful and the parallels between the art and the urban landscape are very interesting.  This book would be a really good way of introducing the Met to students before going to visit it.