Myra,
Fats & Iphigene host this meme at Gathering
Books,
and today I'm reviewing a Caldecott winner, Mirette On The High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully for that
challenge.
It’s always good to find a book that offers a flavor of another time
and place. Mirette
On The High Wire does that well. The
illustrations capture the flavor of France’s impressionists in lovely
watercolor.
The time is 100 years ago in Paris,
where a little girl named Mirette is the daughter of the boardinghouse
owner. As she goes about her chores, she
notices a man named Bellini who keeps to himself, is not interested in
interacting with anyone, especially young girls. Mirette discovers that he is walking on a
wire in the inner courtyard ‘walking on air’.
She is enraptured with the idea; the story says that ‘her feet
tingled’. She tries to convince Bellini
to teach her. He refuses, saying that
‘Once you start, your feet are never happy again on the ground’.
Mirette
doesn’t give up her quest to learn, and practices in secrecy. Soon she is discovered, and then Bellini does
teach her. There is a frightening climax
where Mirette helps Bellini as he has helped her. The story is about courage and persistence as
well as kindness and caring for others when they are in need. It will open good conversations with students
about following one’s dream when the opportunity arises. Here at the beginning
of the school year, it’s also time to talk about being mindful of others’
feelings and taking time to help when one can.
Mirette’s character shows her willingness to do that beautifully.
The book cover shares that McGully has the idea for the story when she was researching a real life daredevil named Blondin, who lived about a hundred years ago, and really did cross Niagara Falls on a wire. You can find out a little more about him and see a photo of him crossing the falls here.
