Mirette on the High Wire Ages 4-8

Mirette on the High Wire

By Emily Arnold McCully

Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Edition: illustrated

Published by G.P. Putnamʼs Sons, 1992

ISBN 0399221301, 9780399221309

32 pages Ages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 RL=3.6

In a story set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris, Mirette, a young girl living in the Widow Gateau's boarding house, becomes the pupil of a former tightrope walker and, in exchange, gives her teacher a valuable lesson about faith and courage.

Inspired by the exploits of the ...

... daredevil Blondin, an exotic, suspenseful story about the affection and loyalty between teacher and protege: Mirette learns tightrope-walking from Monsieur Bellini, a famous wirewalker who has lost his nerve and is staying in her mother's Parisian boardinghouse, because he can no longer perform. For Mirette's sake, Bellini plans a comeback--a walk across a square from one high rooftop to another--but he freezes on the wire until Mirette dashes up to the opposite roof and walks out to meet him. Intense colors, strong contrasts of light and shadow, and artistes and dandies straight out of Toulouse-Lautrec convey the atmosphere of Paris in la belle Époque--a real departure in style and subject matter from McCully's mouse-family adventures.

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Caldecott Medal & NY Times Best Illustrated Book