Mirette on the High Wire
(image from Amazon.com)
SUMMARY
Mirette on the High Wire takes place one hundred years ago in Paris. Mirette lives with her mother, Madame Gateau, in their Boardinghouse on English Street. One day, a man named Bellini asked to stay at the Boardinghouse. He was a retired high-wire walker, and he immediately mesmerized Mirette. One day, she found him walking on a high wire in the courtyard. She begged Bellini to teach her how to walk in the air. With much hesitation, he started giving her lessons day after day. Mirette became so confident in herself, that she started to boast that she would never fall again! Bellini warned her that becoming overconfident will lead to failure.
Towards the end of the story, Bellini is asked to walk across a high wire above the whole city--but he is too afraid. Mirette starts to become disappointed in Bellini as she realizes that her dreams to perform with him will never happen. Then suddenly one night, Mirette hears a commotion on the street. She ventures to see what is happening only to find Bellini high on a wire above the city--frozen! He is too nervous to make it all the way across the wire. Mirette immediately knows what she must do.
Mirette climbs to the top of the building and starts her careful journey across the wire towards Bellini. He gains the courage that he needs by seeing Mirette successfully walking towards him, and he makes it safely across.
APA CITATION
McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette on the High Wire. Putnam, 1992.
MY IMPRESSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
I really love this story because Bellini doesn't give up even though he feels defeated. Mirette is an encouragement to him to get up and try again--and he succeeds!
There are so many different morals and lessons that can be taught from this book: trying new things, not giving up, finding a dream, practice makes perfect, etc. I have even used this story to teach new vocabulary words because it uses some bigger terminology.
This book can be used for so many different things, but I would only recommend it for older elementary students.
PROFESSIONAL REVIEW
Inspired by the exploits of the daredevil Blondin, an exotic, suspenseful story about the affection and loyalty between teacher and protégé: 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. (Picture book. 5-9)
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