A Little fun for Monday!

1948 Caldecott Honor: Bambino The Clown

By Georges Schreiber

George Schreiber

Georges Schreiber (1904-1977) was born in Brussels, Belgium, but after studying art in Berlin, London, Rome, Paris and Florence, moved in 1928 to the United States where he died in New York. His works have been exhibited in a number of major American museums, and collections of his works can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York. His style changed over the years. Thus, in the 40's his art could be definitely placed in the American Regionalism movement, but in the 60's his work, though still figurative, moved towards the ethereally abstract. We have examples of both these styles in our stock.



Bio from: http://www.artatthecenter.com/html/Artists.cfm?ID=31

Book Summary

A darling man shows a young innocent boy how to become a clown at the circus.

Bambino is the main character.  He is a man from Italy who enjoys making other laugh.  Bambino finds a young boy, Peter crying who has lost his hat.  Bambino then offers Peter the opportunity to come to his house and take one of his hats.  Peter than gets to watch as Bambino prepares for a performance.  Peter eagerly wants to learn how to make people laugh, so Bambino includes Peter in his act.

Illustrations

These pictures look like the type of picture books illustrations we see today.  They are bold and fun.  They are whimsy and playful.  They are detailed where needed and then open ended.  Sometimes we see the faces of the characters, we see the characters reactions and feelings.  Other times the face is just a smudge of paint, which leaves me to wonder and create my own story.  I found the pictures to be a delight and fun.  I hope you do to!

Final Thoughts:

1. Would this be a book I would pick up again? Yes

2. Would I recommend it to others to search out and take a look at? Yes

3. Would I spend my hard earned money on the book? Yes

4. Where did I get the book? Pierce County got a copy from University of Portland Library