Mirette on the Highwire (Caldecott Medal Book)

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Description: Mirette and the "Great Bellini" traverse the Paris skyline on high wire in the climactic scene of this picture book about conquering fear. The two meet at Mirette's mother's boarding house, where Bellini is staying with a troupe of traveling performers. Mirette persuades Bellini to teach her his art, and soon enough the two are performing above the rooftops of Paris. While Mirette gets to step outside her daily routine of peeling potatoes and scrubbing floors, Bellini manages to reaffirm his mastery. The story affords a spunky, down-to-earth role model for readers who like to dream big dreams. It also offers rich, scenic portraits of 19th century Paris. The book won the 1993 Caldecott Medal.

Genre: Social Issues - Emotions and Feelings; Performing Arts - General; Mccully, Emily Arnold; Preschool Picture Story Books; Children's Books/Ages 4-8 Fiction; Children: Kindergarten; Tightrope walking; Classics; Juvenile Fiction / Action and Adventure; Acrobats and acrobatics; Fiction;

Average Review: 4.5 stars

Review: The Power of Practice : Mirette is a young girl who works in her mother's hotel. This hotel is frequented by entertainers and performers. One day an interesting man checks in. Mirette discovers him walking on the clothesline one day and becomes fascinated with wire walking. She gives it a try and promptly falls off. She keeps trying and trying during every free moment and gradually gets better. When she learns the new guest is the greatest wire walker of all time, Mirette pleads for him to teach her. He is reluctant at first but, having seen her dedication to practice, relents and begins to teach her and eventually Mirette learns his dark secret. I won't give away the ending so you will have to read it to find out. The story is entertaining and the illustrations are delightful. But what I really like about this book is that it does a better job than so many others at showing how long practice can take and how willing someone has to be to undertake it. Too many books seem to have the character become a great ball player, ballerina, magician, whatever in almost no time at all. We use this book when one of our kids gets disgruntled over not learning a new instrument on the third try or some such thing. All in all a fun book with a good lesson to be leaned (and it won't take months to learn it).