Picture Book Review: Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Cover image of Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet.

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade
By Melissa Sweet
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
2011
Ages 4-8
Lexile AD1000

Tony Sarg was always curious. Curious about the world around him, about how things worked, and about how to create something new. When his father gave him the chore of feeding the family chickens every morning, Tony was curious if he could do it without getting out of bed. Young Tony applied that curiosity to making a device to feed the chickens, "and his dad, so impressed, never made Tony do another chore." This curiosity and creativity continued throughout Tony's life, and Melissa Sweet expertly captures it in Balloons Over Broadway. 

Tony feeding chickens from bed in Balloons Over Broadway.

This biography tells the story of Tony Sarg’s development of the Macy’s Parade and creation of its iconic giant helium balloons. Through playful cartoon illustrations and mixed-media collages, Sweet conveys his sense of excitement and wonder in everything he undertakes. When R. H. Macy asks Sarg to create "something spectacular" for his parade, Sweet shows a smiling Sarg emphatically answering "OK!" from a toy-filled studio.

Macy telephoning Sarg and asking him to replace the animals in the parade in Balloons Over Broadway.

Sarg's original designs, based on Indonesian rod puppets, were "part puppet, part balloon...air-filled rubber bags...propped up by wooden sticks." As the parade became more popular, though, these creatures were not large enough for the crowds attending to see. Sarg was confronted with a new challenge of how to design the best puppets for a large street parade. As always, he was curious, asking what would happen if the marionettes he created were redesigned so "the controls were below and the puppet could rise up." Working with Goodyear, Sarg designed the first helium balloons.

Sarg and associates creating the first helium balloons in Balloons Over Broadway.

No one knew if the "upside-down marionettes" would work in the parade. When Sarg inflated the first balloons on Thanksgiving Day in 1927, crowds marveled at the animals flying high above them. Sweet's illustrations show colorful, smiling balloons guided by puppeteers through the streets of New York and excited children staring agape at the sky.

Giant balloon animals flying through the streets in Balloons Over Broadway.

Children looking up at balloons in Balloons Over Broadway.

Sarg's curiosity and creativity paid off. The parade was a success, and seeing the Macy's balloons on Thanksgiving became a tradition that endures to this day. Back matter including an author’s note, bibliography, and note about the art provides further information about Sarg’s life and Sweet’s process. In Balloons Over Broadway, Melissa Sweet illuminates the history behind a beloved tradition, introduces readers to a non-traditional biography, and educates children about a little-known inventor.

Source: Library Copy

Read-Aloud Video:

Further Reading:

• Horn Book "Five Questions for Melissa Sweet"
• Art of the Picture Book "An Interview with Melissa Sweet"
• Jama's Alphabet Soup "melissa sweet's balloons over broadway (a review, a little chat, and a special giveaway!)"
• Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast "Before You Watch That Thanksgiving Parade..."

Curriculum Connections:

• Balloons Over Broadway Activity Kit
• Balloons Over Broadway Educator's Guide
• Classroom Bookshelf "2012 Robert F. Siebert Informational Book Medal Winner: Balloons over Broadway"
• Reading is Fundamental "Balloons Over Broadway"
• University of Minnesota Libraries "Balloons Over Broadway, Melissa Sweet, and the Engineering of a Picture Book" 

Picture Book Review: How the Cookie Crumbled: The True (and Not-So-True) Stories of the Invention of the Chocolate Chip Cookie by Gilbert Ford

Cover of How the Cookie Crumbled: The True (and Not-So-True) Stories of the Invention of the Chocolate Chip Cookie by Gilbert Ford

How the Cookie Crumbled: The True (and Not-So-True) Stories of the Invention of the 
     Chocolate Chip Cookie
By Gilbert Ford
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2017
Ages 5-9
Lexile 900

Information literacy is an essential topic in schools these days. From fake news to online hoaxes, educators recognize the importance of giving students the tools to locate and evaluate information. Many lessons on telling fact from fake focus on digital literacy, but misinformation and distortion of facts existed long before the internet. In How The Cookie Crumbled, Gilbert Ford has taken a event with multiple stories of how it happened, presented the reader with information, and invited them to decide what they believe is true. Readers must think critically about the facts presented in order to determine the most likely origin of Ruth Wakefield's Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies. Information literacy has never tasted so good.

Opening spread of How the Cookie Crumbled showing a children and a plate of cookies.

"Do these look familiar?" Ford begins our chocolate-flavored investigation by setting the stage for the cookie's creation. Ruth Wakefield is the undisputed inventor of the chocolate chip cookie, but how was it created? Before presenting the possible invention stories, Ford gives a brief biography of Wakefield. He shows her as an exacting person that, even as a child, saw cooking as a science. In the first spread introducing Wakefield, Ford's cartoon illustrations show an excited young Ruth and a deliberate older Ruth mixing and creating. The background information about Wakefield is an important key to evaluating the legitimacy of the cookie creation stories.

Ruth Wakefield baking as a child and adult in How the Cookie Crumbled

Ford relates three versions of the cookie's invention: the disaster, the substitute, and the mastermind. Each is presented in a comic-like spread. In the disaster and the substitute, the chocolate chip cookie came about by mistake; Wakefield was trying to do something else and just happened upon the delicious cookie. In the mastermind, though, the expert chef purposely developed the cookie. 

The Mastermind spread from How the Cookie Crumbled

After presenting the three versions of the story, Ford asks readers to consider what they know about Wakefield and choose which story they think is most likely. In his mind, it's a clear case of a mastermind creating one more delicious dessert, just as she was known for doing. 

Analysis of stories spread from How the Cookie Crumbled

Ford continues the story of the chocolate chip cookie's success and spread from a speciality of the Toll House Inn to a favorite of bakers across the United States. An author's note finishes the story with more details about Wakefield and the Toll House Inn, and a brief bibliography lists further sources of information about the cookie. A version of the original recipe for Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies is also included. With its appealing presentation of a little-known topic, How the Cookie Crumbled is a biography of a woman inventor and a lesson on information literacy that children will eat up.

Source: Library Copy

Further Reading:

• Lemelson-MIT "Ruth Wakefield"
• New York Times "Overlooked No More: Ruth Wakefield, Who Invented the Chocolate Chip Cookie"
• Serious Eats "Mrs. Wakefield's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe"
• The Toast "Toll House Cookies: A Secret History"
• Twenty by Jenny "Interview Session with Gilbert Ford: How the Cookie Crumbled"

Further Viewing:

• The Irma Black Award & Cook Prize Ceremony 2018 Live Stream -- 44:52 - 48:04

Readalikes:

• The Chocolate Chip Cookie Queen: Ruth Wakefield and Her Yummy Invention by Carmen Bredeson
• Dumpling Dreams: How Joyce Chen Brought the Dumpling from Beijing to Cambridge by Carrie Clickard
• The Hole Story of the Doughnut by Pat Miller
• Mr. Crum's Potato Predicament by Anne Renaud
• The Way the Cookie Crumbled by Jody Jensen Shaffer

Picture Book Review: Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark by Heather Lang

Cover image of Swimming with Sharks by Heather Lang, illustrated by Jordi Solano

Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark
By Heather Lang
Illustrated by Jordi Solano
Albert Whitman and Company
2016
Ages 4-8
Lexile 760

"Sharks are magnificent and misunderstood!"

From her first visits to the New York Aquarium as a child, Eugenie Clark was captivated by ocean life. She observed all different types of fish, but she was fascinated by sharks. In the narrative picture book biography Swimming with Sharks, Lang relates the story of Clark's lifelong journey to understand and educate others about sharks.

Lang’s text and Solano’s rich illustrations work together to portray Genie’s sense of wonder and inquisitiveness. When Lang writes about Genie’s mother buying her a fish tank, Solano shows a full-page view of Genie’s face, eyes wide open, studying the fish. 

Eugenie looking at fish tank in Swimming with Sharks

As Clark studies sharks, illustrations expand on the text and provide further information about sharks. When Lang describes the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, Solano's illustrations help the reader visualize the shark pen connected to the open ocean and Clark's research process.

Clark at Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in Swimming with Sharks

Lang also incorporates quotations from Clark into the text to create a compelling factual narrative.

Clark holding shark jaw in Swimming with Sharks

Brief back matter provides further information about Clark's life and sharks. An author’s note addresses Clark's struggle and determination to become a respected expert as a Japanese-American woman, and a more about sharks section explains the importance of sharks in the earth's ecosystem. Photographs of Clark at work and selected sources round out the additional information. Swimming with Sharks is an excellent read-aloud that encourages children to explore and be curious about the world around them.

Source: Library Copy

Book Trailer:

Further Reading:

• Heather Lang Books "Genie's Notebook Pages!"
• Writers' Rumpus "Meet Heather Lang, Children's Author of Lesser-Known Women"
• Smithsonian Ocean "Eugenie Clark - The Shark Lady"
• National Ocean Service "Dr. Eugenie Clark (1922-2015)

Further Viewing:

• Thirteen Forum "The Lady and the Sharks: An Evening with Eugenie Clark"
• Dr. Eugenie Clark on Mote

Readalikes:

• Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola
• Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne
• Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
• Women Who Dared: 52 Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers & Rebels by Linda Skeers

Curriculum Connections:

• A Teacher's Guide to Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark
• Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium SEAtrek.TV Virtual Learning