Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. NY: Houghton.
This imaginatively illustrated nonfiction book tells us the story of Tony Sarg, the man behind the modern day balloons of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Sarg grown up on a farm and was very clever and inventive. There was lots of work on the farm and Tony would engineer contraptions that streamlined feeding the hens and chicks. One of his fascinations was marionettes. He loved making them and seeing the mechanics behind them. This lead him to a career in puppetry. He moved to New York and sold puppets he designed and had a marionettes show on Broadway. Macy's discovered Tony and wanted him to design and create their annual Christmas window display at their store. Macy's had another idea as well. They wanted to have a Thanksgiving parade in the tradition of their immigrant workers' home country. They asked Tony to help and he helped make floats and funny balloons for the parade. The parade was a huge success but after a few years they had remove live animals due to them frightening the children. This left a big hole in the parade and they asked Tony to step in a create something spectacular to replace the animals. After some tinkering and experimenting, Tony created his largest puppets yet. He used helium and string to invert the puppet and have them float in the air. These huge balloons left everyone speechless and change the parade forever.
The creation of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons was absolutely fascinating. It was so refreshing to see something so unique and inventive created with a brilliant mind and resourcefulness. The illustrations complemented the story and the vibrant colors were very eye catching. I would highly recommend this book to age 5-9.
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