Night Circus

by Etienne Delessert

Overview

Author and illustrator Etienne Delessert reflects on his lifelong pursuit of art using the dreamlike scenario of a circus procession filled with fairy-tale allusions and literary inspirations.As each car passes, a different act represents a "stage" in life, and the performers direct a question to the bystander,prompting him to participate and follow the caravan into the great unknown. Lighting a candle, he affirms his own contribution to the artistic tradition and invites readers to play their part in the game of life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781568462776
Publisher:	Creative Company, The
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

Editorial Reviews

02/09/2015
This haunting collection of paintings represents Delessert (A Glass) at his most introspective, as he records the capricious activity of his own unconscious. “On a calm September evening, I was walking my dog along Route 44 when headlights flashed in front of me. My cat Pluto was driving past in an antique racing car, slowly pulling ten old-fashioned wooden flatbeds.” The 10 visions, like demented parade floats, seem to leap out of the pitch-black night. The first pictures Kafka, Beckett, and Ionesco as clowns: “My friend, do you read poetry?” they ask. Angels around a chessboard ponder the pieces, small humans: “Want to play with us?” A lion leaps through a ring of fire: “Can you feel the heat?” After the others pass—fairy-tale characters, acrobats, imaginary creatures—Delessert and his dog follow them into the desert, toward a mirage. “Want to play now?” someone asks. “I approached the lion and his ring of fire. We lit a candle. It was my night circus!” The slow-motion encounter between the artist and the bright-eyed, grinning creatures of his own imagination is one readers won’t soon forget. Ages 6–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A modern master of surrealism presents an astonishing traveling circus. A man is walking his dog along the highway at night. Coming toward them is a car pulling 10 flatbeds, each with a performance piece taking place upon it. The car is driven by the man's cat, Pluto. The man is astonished and intrigued as he watches all the cars pass by and they then all move from the dark into the golden light of a desert mirage. It is all surreal, and Delessert is a master of visual absurdity. The human-sized cat who is driving the car looks more like a rat in cat's clothing. The three clowns, named for Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco, sport their namesakes' signatures: Franz is turning into a cockroach, and Eugene wears a rhinoceros' horn. On another car, angels play chess with pieces that look familiar but not quite identifiable. The three little pigs (actually quite large) are about to cut into a wolf pie-the crust of which looks more sheeplike than anything else. A snow globe is filled with butterflies. The whole is neither dreamlike nor nightmarish but resides somewhere in that state where new words and old words and images come together and collide. Children who have not yet gained a sense of irony will particularly enjoy the seemingly random but carefully delineated juxtaposition of image and idea." -Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2015-01-10
A modern master of surrealism presents an astonishing traveling circus.A man is walking his dog along the highway at night. Coming toward them is a car pulling 10 flatbeds, each with a performance piece taking place upon it. The car is driven by the man's cat, Pluto. The man is astonished and intrigued as he watches all the cars pass by and they then all move from the dark into the golden light of a desert mirage. It is all surreal, and Delessert is a master of visual absurdity. The human-sized cat who is driving the car looks more like a rat in cat's clothing. The three clowns, named for Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco, sport their namesakes' signatures: Franz is turning into a cockroach, and Eugene wears a rhinoceros' horn. On another car, angels play chess with pieces that look familiar but not quite identifiable. The three little pigs (actually quite large) are about to cut into a wolf pie—the crust of which looks more sheeplike than anything else. A snow globe is filled with butterflies. The whole is neither dreamlike nor nightmarish but resides somewhere in that state where new words and old words and images come together and collide. Children who have not yet gained a sense of irony will particularly enjoy the seemingly random but carefully delineated juxtaposition of image and idea. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews