Bound To Stay Bound

View MARC Record
 Smile : how young Charlie Chaplin taught the world to laugh (and cry)
 Author: Golio, Gary

 Publisher:  Candlewick Press (2019)

 Dewey: 791.43
 Classification: Biography
 Physical Description: [35] p., ill. (chiefly col.), 28 cm

 BTSB No: 384834 ISBN: 9780763697617
 Ages: 8-12 Grades: 3-7

 Subjects:
 Chaplin, Charlie, -- 1889-1977
 Comedians -- Biography
 Motion pictures

Price: $6.50

Summary:
A creative look at the early life of comedic genius Charlie Chaplin.

 Illustrator: Young, Ed
Accelerated Reader Information:
   Interest Level: MG
   Reading Level: 4.10
   Points: .5   Quiz: 510888
Reading Counts Information:
   Interest Level: 3-5
   Reading Level: 4.60
   Points: 3.0   Quiz: 76796

Reviews:
   Kirkus Reviews (02/01/19)
   School Library Journal (03/01/19)
   Booklist (+) (02/15/19)

Full Text Reviews:

Booklist - 02/15/2019 *Starred Review* Golio has a gift for penning picture books about subjects that, at first glance, may not seem all that attractive to young readers: Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and, now, the Little Tramp. Nevertheless, Golio and Young's final product is one with undeniable appeal. Charlie Chaplin had a difficult childhood in Victorian and Edwardian England, yet even when “it was off to the poorhouse,” he developed his talent for singing, dancing, and making people laugh: “Charlie was funny, a natural . . . With his deep-blue eyes, he’d hypnotize. / With his body, he’d tell stories.” The biography’s verse, open and light, still packs in pathos and pleasure as “Charlie began to understand / How Funny and Sad went hand in hand.” His growing success as a performer brought him to America, where he solidified his fame in films. Young’s collage-and-ink art, with its signature abstractness, is made especially accessible: its shadows, shapes, and outlines suggest and show the subject’s evolution up until the last page turn, when an instantly recognizable photograph of Chaplin’s iconic character cinematically snaps it all into place. An afterword provides further showbiz context and facts, resources, citations, and relevance (he showed “us how someone small could be clever and strong”); a bottom-corner page flip animates the Tramp’s signature walk; and the entire package will indeed bring a smile. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2019 Gr 1–5—The duo that illuminated musicians Bird and Diz present the backstory of an internationally acclaimed silent film star, director, and composer. Golio has wisely selected moments from Chaplin's 19th-century London childhood that are laden with sensory components or emotional connections: "Laughing children with colored balloons / A flower seller with his jingly cart and horse…." Scaffolding the heights and depths of life with an absent actor father and a musical mother whose illness led to the poorhouse, the author traces experiences Charlie and his brother absorbed before becoming vaudevillians themselves (the book concludes before adult complexities arise). Throughout pratfalls with troupes in England and America, the siblings and their audiences discerned that "Laughter and Tears were brothers, too." Young's inventive, mixed-media collages play with this duality by balancing subdued scenes with bursts of joyous color. The penultimate spread depicts the tramp costume, freshly fashioned for cinema, stretching diagonally across the gutter—a brown shadow emerging from a patchwork canopy snipped from previous scenes. It echoes the burlap crowd from Chaplin's earliest street dances and prepares readers for the final iconic photograph. Thoughtful design presents the blank verse rendered in white on black—or the reverse—paying homage to the subject's filmmaking, as does the tramp silhouette on the base of each recto that animates when flipped. VERDICT Adults will appreciate the informative and creative approach, as well as the afterword, bibliography, and textual nod to the titular lyrics. Children will cheer for the class clown's success.—Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

View MARC Record
Loading...