How many children's books do you know where the girl (rather than a boy or an animal) saves the day by doing something heroic? Relatively few come to my mind. As the parent of two daughters, I was delighted to find this wonderful tale of 19th century entertainment fills that bill.
Ms. McCully had originally set out to write a biography of the famous tightrope walker Blondin, when she decided to write this book instead. The Mirette character is based on her own recollections of being a brave girl.
This book contains unusually high quality illustrations, even for a Caldecott Medal Winner (as the best illustrated children's book of 1993). The style shares a great deal with Toulouse-Lautrec but is more appealing because there is more subtlety and use of soft pastel shades. You will definitely feel like you've stepped through the looking glass into a world of entertainment in 1890's Paris.
The story opens to find Mirette helping her mother keep a boardinghouse for entertainers (traveling players for the theaters and music halls) called Gateau's. "Acrobats, jugglers, actors, and mimes from as far away as Moscow and New York" stayed and ate there. What a wonderful place for a child!
Mirette, unfortunately, had the not so exciting tasks of "washing linens, chopping leeks, paring potatoes, and mopping floors." She was "a good listener, too."
One day, Bellini (a retired high-wire walker) came to stay. "I am here for a rest." Soon, he had set up his wire in the back and was practicing. He refused to teach Mirette when she asked to learn. "Once you start, your feet are never happy again on the ground." She replied, "My feet are already unhappy on the ground." While he was away sometimes she would practice. After weeks of falls and problems, she could go across the whole wire. She showed him.
He responded. "Most give up. But you kept trying. Perhaps you have talent as well."
His key advice: "Never let your eyes stray." "Think only of the wire, and of crossing to the end."
When she says she'll never fall again, he warns her not to boast.
Later an agent from Astley's Hippodrome in London comes to Gateau's and recognizes Bellini. The agent recounts some of his many feats including crossing Niagara Falls on a 1000 foot wire in 10 minutes, and cooking an omelet on a stove of live coals on the way back. He had also toasted the crowd with champagne. Bellini had crossed the Alps on another occasion. Further, he had fired a cannon from the wire over the bullring in Barcelona, and crossed a flaming wire blind-folded in Naples. Ah! Oh exciting!
There's only one problem: He has lost his "nerves of an iceberg."
Encouraged by the agent, Bellini plans a comeback. He walks out on the wire and freezes. What next?
Mirette saves the day by reaching her hands out to him, and meeting him on the wire.
The book's final page shows a poster of Mirette and Bellini saying that they are wire walkers who do "stupendous feats." A little girl looks up at the poster.
As you can see, this is quite a good story, and works in Mirette's heroism in a natural way. The character development is quite good, and the historical context is interesting. Children often wonder what people did for entertainment before television.
As a parent, you may want to make a little addition to the story that, of course, Mirette's mother joined them in traveling around to do the act. Otherwise, this story could be incorrectly construed as encouraging young girls to go traveling around with grown men.
The great lesson in this book is focus. Where would that lesson help your child? Where would it help you?
Use your focus to live your most positive dreams!
