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

Sweet, M.  (2011).  Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. 

New York:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

This informational book tells the life of Anthony “Tony” Frederick Sarg and how he became the puppeteer for the Thanksgiving Day Macy’s Parade.  As a young boy, Tony was always interested in knowing how things worked and it wasn’t until he moved to New York (where he met Mr. Macy of Macy’s department stores) that his career as a puppeteer took off.  After a few trial and errors over the years with the Thanksgiving Day Macy’s Parade, Tony finally figured out what he needed to do to make his puppets easy to handle and visible for everyone to see.  Sweet’s collage-like illustrations are just as eye-catching as Tony’s puppets, with an attention to detail and vibrant colors on every page that the reader may not even realize they’re reading a non-fiction text.  And though text is used to progress the story, the illustrations are also used to progress the story as they capture the historic making of Tony’s puppets in the parades.  This read would definitely benefit upper elementary and secondary kids, as well as adults, who are interested in knowing more about the parades on Thanksgiving.  This book is a 2012 Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner.