Brief Factual Information:
Title: Balloons over Broadway
Author and Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Publication Year: 2011
Title: Balloons over Broadway
Author and Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Publication Year: 2011
Prompts: Plot Summary: This is the "true story of the puppeteer of the Macy's parade". Tony Sarg was a child who loved to make things and figure out how things worked. He grew up to be a puppeteer in London. Eventually he moved to New York and Macy's asked him to make puppets for their window display during the holidays. They were so impressed with his work that they asked him to fashion puppets for a parade to be held on Thanksgiving the following year. Using a mix of puppet tools and blimps, Tony created the balloons we see on the Macy's Parade every Thanksgiving. Artistic Medium: This book was done in watercolors. The color scheme is all bright and vibrant colors. There are a lot of pinks, oranges, blues, and greens. These all stand out and give the book a fun and happy tone. Style: The style of this book is cartoon and collage. While the book is a cartoon with drawn images of the characters and scenes there is a collage element to it as well. Parts of the book look like they were made somewhere else, cut out, and pasted together on the page almost like a scrapbook. | Strong Vocabulary: Some of the vocabulary in this book may be difficult because there are puppeteer terms (marionettes, pulleys, levees, gears, blimps) but the images help fill in the vocabulary gaps. Figurative Langauge: There is a very good use of adjectives in this book. For example words like spectacular, colorful, magnificent, and shimmed and swayed. Relationship of Pictures to Words: In this book there is a complementary relationship between pictures and words. The pictures help bring the words to life and fill in any gaps, confusion. Themes/Central Concepts: The central concept of this book is the history of the popular Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Uses for this book: This book would be perfect for use in a first of second grade classroom. The teacher could use it right before Thanksgiving. |
Picture of Tony Sarg
Pages from the text
Video clip from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade