Life in Color

A short, sweet linked story collection, Cynthia Rylant’s The Van Gogh Cafe is a magical book about a magical little place. Like a neighborhood pub, this theater-turned-coffee shop is full of magical potentiality. It’s where everybody in town goes, and where everybody is met with a smile from the ceramic hen next to the cash register, and the sign that says ‘You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To.’ They’re also met by ten-year-old Clara, and her father, great coffee and once in a lifetime, lemon pie.

A place that is somehow able to fulfill wishes you didn’t even know you have, the Van Gogh Cafe in Flowers, Kansas is a special place that lets writers write their best stories and poetry, provides just enough magic muffins for small children, and lets possums reunite old friends and lovers. It’s like walking into a Van Gogh painting — simply magical.