Like the timing set on his clicking metronome, the parents of Vasya Kandinsky have arranged a “proper” and predictable pattern to their young son’s daily life. Born into wealth and privilege, Vasya is expected to become the perfect Russian boy––perfectly polite, perfectly studious, and perfectly his parents’ idea of success.

Until one day, the unexpected happens … Auntie gives her nephew a small wooden box filled with paints, and they begin to sing! Although no one else can hear the music of the colors, Vasya’s life is transformed by their vibrant voices. Through his experiments with form and color, his drab, monotonous world is suddenly alive with exciting possibilities. That is, until Mama and Papa decide that Vasya needs to be painting “proper” pictures of houses and flowers instead of indulging in playful exercises in art.

Wanting to please his parents, Vasya tries to follow the path set for him, but his noisy paint box will not be silent. Colors everywhere insist on being listened to and Vasya eventually leaves the formal art instruction arranged by his parents, and finally his later job as an attorney, to paint his many symphonies of color. Seeing color in music and hearing music in color, he names his works musical terms such as Improvisation, Composition, Accompaniment, Fugue, Movement, and Three Sounds.

In this moving story of the father of abstract art, author Barb Rosenstock invites us to experience the world through Kandinsky’s unusual sense of perception … “the canary-colored mailbox whistling as he rode to work. The scarlet sunset haze ringing above the ancient Kremlin walls. An ivory chorus of snowflakes scattered on the sable collar of his overcoat.”

Mary Grandpré’s illustrations (for which she was a Caldecott Honor recipient) waltz the reader through Kandinsky’s brilliant artwork, encouraging us to become part of the dance. And as the music dims, we are left to answer his all-important question: “How does it make you feel?”

Parents and children will enjoy learning about this historic figure, and Kandinsky’s unusual abilities (now diagnosed as ‘synesthesia,’ a harmless genetic condition), invite the appreciation of differences.

The Noisy Paint Box, like Kandinsky’s paintings, made me feel alive with color and eager to listen to his full symphony!