SIDEWALK CIRCUS

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)