Starring Mirette and Bellini - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2. The young star of the 1992 Caldecott winner, Mirette on the High Wire (Putnam, 1992), is now a full-fledged partner of the great Bellini. Together, they perform incredible feats across Europe culminating in a series of backwards somersaults on the Eiffel Tower. There is, however, one more sequence that Bellini can teach?the Death Walk. While Mirette is still practicing it, they are invited to perform in St. Petersburg where they will cross the frozen Neva River. When Bellini exhorts the czar-oppressed crowds to work for freedom, he is arrested and it falls to Mirette to rescue him?using the Death Walk to reach his prison cell. The attempt is successful and back in the cozy comfort of Paris the two ponder the merits of a journey to Niagara Falls. McCully's technique is the same as in the previous title, watercolors in an impressionistic style. However, the strong use of white that the artist employed in Mirette on the High Wire to focus attention is not present in the sequel. Some double-page spreads are too hazy and the darkness of the night when Mirette is reaching out to Bellini does not adequately convey the desperate daring of the midnight rescue. Still, fans of Mirette will certainly enjoy this second outing.?Susan Pine, New York Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5^-9. A sequel to Mirette on the High Wire (1992), this follows high-wire artist Bellini and his young protege, Mirette, across Europe, from Paris to St. Petersburg. The theme is freedom, played out on the stage of history, but with a personal slant that makes it more concrete and comprehensible to a young audience. After observing Russia's poor from the train and talking with friends about the widespread hunger, hopelessness, and czarist oppression, Bellini follows a well-attended high-wire performance with a statement of hope and freedom to the crowd. Soldiers immediately imprison Bellini. Mirette bravely walks a high wire in the darkness to set him free. Like the Caldecott Medal^-winning Mirette, this picture book features watercolor-and-pastel artwork in an impressionistic style. Scenes of Mirette and Bellini in close-up and on the wire are set against cityscape backdrops that include nineteenth-century Paris, Milan, and St. Petersburg. The night scenes, with their evocation of forms in darkness, are particularly dramatic. Children intrigued with Mirette will be pleased not only with her Russian adventure but also with the closing scene, which hints that she and Bellini may be crossing Niagara Falls in the near future. Carolyn Phelan