Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Newberg Public Library | WORDLESS FLEISCHMAN | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
"This delightful book will fascinate children and help them to see their world with new eyes."
-- SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Step right up and witness an astounding assemblage of tightrope walkers, strong men, sword swallowers, and clowns. The Garibaldi Circus is coming soon- but for those with clear eyes, the performers may already be in the ring. So get ready to sharpen your vision, and look very closely. A show like you've never seen is about to begin!
Author Notes
Paul Fleischman was born in Monterey, California on September 5, 1952. His father is fellow children's author, Sid Fleischman. He attended the University of California at Berkeley for two years, from 1970 to 1972. He dropped out to go on a cross-country train/bicycle trip and along the way took care of a 200-year-old house in New Hampshire. He eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of New Mexico in 1977.
Fleischman has written over 25 books for children and young adults including award winners such as Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, Newberry Medal in 1989; Graven Images, Newberry Honor; Bull Run, Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; Breakout, Finalist for the National Book Award in 2003; Saturnalia, Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Honor. He has also garnered numerous awards and recognitions from the American Library Association, School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, and NCTE.
He founded the grammar watchdog groups ColonWatch and The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to English.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 5-As posters advertising the world-renowned Garibaldi circus are put up along a busy city block, a girl waiting for a bus watches the circus of everyday life unfold. There is no actual text to the book, just the words of store signs, a scrolling theater marquee, and the show bills. What the girl imagines is revealed through the playful shadows of the people on the street and the corresponding circus flyers. For example, as a chef flips pancakes into the air in the caf?, the corresponding poster promises "Fantastic feats of juggling." As a young man delivers a side of beef, his shadow is that of the strongman, featured on the neighboring poster. Fleischman has the incredible gift of always finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. To communicate his vision so successfully in a virtually wordless book is an amazing feat, with as much credit due to the illustrator. Hawkes's richly colored acrylic paintings sustain interest and pacing throughout the book, changing perspective, giving readers close-ups and then views further back. Vignettes of the girl waiting on the bench convey her growing sense of wonder as she discovers the parallels with the everyday. Appropriately enough, as she leaves on the bus at the end of the book, her place is taken by a wide-eyed boy who seems destined to find new parallels of his own. This delightful book will fascinate children and help them to see their world with new eyes.-Robin L. Gibson, formerly at Perry County District Library, New Lexington, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In a new direction for the team behind Weslandia, Hawkes provides studied, atmospheric paintings to go with Fleisch-man's wistful, nearly wordless story. In the sunlight and blue shadows of the waking day, a girl arrives at a city bus stop as a poster-hanger starts putting up circus advertisements. "Coming soon... World-renowned... Garibaldi Circus!!!!" announces the theater marquee across the street. Small, oval spot paintings show the waiting passengers in shades of gray. Only the girl appears in color; only she sees that the circus has already started, and that admission is free. One-and-a-half-page, full-bleed spreads portray the performers, ordinary working folks every bit as talented as the circus acts whose posters they mimic. Near a poster for "The Great Tebaldi, Prince of Tightrope Walkers," a construction worker walks an I-beam while carrying two buckets. A burly deliveryman hauls a side of beef into the butcher shop right next to a poster for "Goliath the Strongman." Skateboard-riding toughs ape "The Colombo Clowns"; the girl laughs and applauds their tricks. Hawkes's paintings combine in a most distinctive way a feeling of weight with the dreamy light of early morning. The girl's bus comes, she leaves; a boy arrives, and the "circus" begins again. Children will take pleasure in the story's appreciation of their own ability to see the wonder of the world around them. Ages 5-9. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary) As a neighborhood theater marquee proudly proclaims, Garibaldi's ""World-Renowned"" Circus is ""coming soon""; yet it's already rivaled by happenings on the city street. While an advance man is putting up the circus posters that constitute the book's only text, folks assembling at the bus stop across the street are treated to variously comical and hair-raising events for which the posters coincidentally serve as captions: a beam-walking, bucket-laden construction worker resembles the ""Prince of Tight Rope Walkers""; ""Goliath the Strongman"" delivers a side of beef; skateboarders fly through the air, a cook juggles pancakes, and precariously balanced window washers and a house painter double as trapeze artists and a stilt walker. Meanwhile, Hawkes's acrylic paintings put the reader at ringside to enjoy both the sidewalk performers and the larger-than-life circus figures their shadows cast (a device that's first used in the jacket art, where the little bill-capped advance man casts the huge, blue shadow of a top-hatted circus barker). Period architecture, dramatic Edward Hopper light, and clever, neatly orchestrated detail all add up to a star-studded three-ring performance that yields new discoveries with each visit. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The splendor of everyday life is revealed in this quietly exciting wordless offering. As a city street awakens, with commuters passing by and grocers setting out their wares, a brightly lit marquee announces the coming Garibaldi Circus. A worker pastes up posters for the circus's various acts, and a little girl's joyful gaze finds the circus in the everyday waking city. A man carries an enormous haunch of meat into the butcher shop by a poster labeled "Goliath the Strongman." A construction worker balances on girders like a tightrope walker while two boys on skateboards clown around in front of the marketplace. In soft, borderless, bright illustrations, the shadows of these everyday adventurers hint at their possible circus lives. In a gorgeous action-packed spread, all the acts of the sidewalk circus appear at once. A lovely tribute to the endless power of imagination. (Picture book. 2-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
K-Gr. 3. A young girl's downtown bus stop bench turns into a front row seat. World-Renowned Garibaldi Circus!!! Coming Soon! the marquee of a theater across the street shouts. But the girl doesn't have to wait. As she watches, an elderly man begins posting banners and signs, and the world transforms into a sidewalk circus. Construction workers balance on beams just like The Great Teabaldi, Prince of Tightrope Walkers. A deliveryman, bent double under the load of his package, casts a shadow that looks remarkably like Goliath the Strongman. Two boys' misadventures with their skateboards evoke The Famous Columbo Clowns. And so it goes until the girl's bus arrives. But don't think that's the end of this adventure; the fun continues after the next turn of the page. Fleischman and Hawkes have produced a magical, inspired collaboration, an almost wordless picture book that is a festival for the imagination. Fleischman's scenes and Hawkes' gorgeous double-page acrylic pictures will tickle the wits and dazzle the eyes of boys and girls of all ages. Step right up! The show is starting! --Michael Cart Copyright 2004 Booklist