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

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sweet, Melissa. 2011. BALLOONS OVER BROADWAY; THE TRUE STORY OF THE PUPPETEER OF MACY’S PARADE. New York: NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN: 9780547199450

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

This is a story of a man, Tony Sarg, who never stopped being a kid. As a child, Tony loved toys and puppets and grew up to make puppets for a living in London. When he moved to New York City, Tony was asked by Macy’s to decorate their front windows with marionettes. The window displays were a hit and Macy’s asked if he would do a puppet parade for its employees, to symbolize street parades from their hometowns. The puppet parade was so successful that Tony was asked to do the next parade which started Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. After seeing how many people came out the parade, Tony realized that he needed to create larger puppets so that everyone could see. He then came up with the idea of creating balloon like puppets that could be tethered to the ground, and they were a huge hit!  From then on, Tony continued to create the balloons used in the parade for people all over the world to enjoy.

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This biography is playful and a fun read for everyone. The story briefly starts with Tony as a child and the majority is about his adult life as a puppeteer. Sweet does a wonderful job writing about Tony Sarg, and doesn’t include too much information which came be overwhelming. Sweet brings the story to life and leaves the reader wanting to learn more about the Macy’s Day Parade.

I loved the unique layout of her writing, it’s a nice change from the usual left to right format. Her font choices were fun and exciting and created a nostalgic feeling. Melissa also included several diagrams that resembled some of Tony’s thoughts, which are a great added detail for the reader. The illustrations were fun and I liked how they resembled some of Tony’s and Melissa’s toy collection.  

4. REVIEW EXCERPT

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: Milly, the daughter of Polish immigrants, idolizes her dad's boss, Mr. Macy: he "was just about the most important person in America (next to the president of course)." So when Papa and his co-workers grow homesick for their Christmas tradition of "caroling from house to house," Milly takes her idea for "singing and strolling in the streets" straight to Mr. Macy. As her endnote explains, Corey's (You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer!) "history" of the Macy's Christmas Parade is more fanciful than factual, but it captures the flavor of its 1924 setting. (Parade enthusiasts should see also Pamela Pease's Macy's on Parade, noted above under "Thanksgiving.") Marching across the horizontal pages, the sharp-faced, pointy-nosed characters of Helquist's (illustrator of Lemony Snicket's books) spirited acrylic and oil illustrations may convey a more satirical mood than the text suggests, but period details bring the '20s roaring back to life.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a highlight of the New York City holiday season with its marching bands and big balloons. In this story, set in 1924, Corey envisions a little girl whose immigrant Polish father works for Mr. Macy himself. Milly has the run of the store and can fly through the revolving doors and ride up and down the escalators and the elevators. She and all the fashionably dressed customers think that the Christmas merchandise is "gorgeous." But while Milly and her family are growing accustomed to America, they miss one wonderful custom from the old country: strolling from house to house singing Christmas carols. The child determinedly proposes to Mr. Macy a parade as an alternative. The marchers begin in Harlem with festive costumes, bands, and animals from the Central Park Zoo and end up on 34th Street. And so the annual festivity takes root. Helquist's acrylic-and-oil paintings feature colorfully dressed people with angular faces and bodies outlined in black. The author's note gives a history of the parade and acknowledges that while R. H. Macy himself died in 1877, he is a known character "-immortalized in the 1947 classic book and film Miracle on 34th Street-." While the references to the Follies and the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts may be lost on children, this is an entertaining and lively variation on holiday stories.

5. CONNECTIONS

*For more information about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and to see pictures from past parades, check out: http://social.macys.com/parade2011/#/home

*Want to make your own puppets? Check out this activity page: http://www.hmhbooks.com/kids/resources/BalloonsOverBroadway_ActivityKit.pdf

*Students can create their own puppet or balloon parade!

*Here is another book about the Macy’s Day Parade:

Corey, Shara. MILLY AND THE MACYS PARADE. ISBN: 9780439297554