Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder

Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder by Tanya Lee Stone
Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
2008

     Alexander Calder is one of the most important American artist of the 20th century.  I've always loved his sculptures and in my hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, we were very proud of having our university's auditorium designed by Calder:

I was very excited to find Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder.  It is the story of Alexander Calder's beginnings as an artist.  We learn about his childhood growing up in a family of artists that made sure that Sandy -that's what they called Alexander- had a workshop and tools.  He became an engineer and had many jobs until one night, while on a boat he saw the colors on the sky that inspired him to go to art school.  He spent a lot of time in Paris and that's where he began creating a miniature circus with wires.  He made the figures in his circus perform and soon his fame spread.   He delighted in "crafting things that moved" and he invented the first mobiles.

     Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder is a biography that manages to inspire and awaken the imaginative mind.  The detailed illustrations by Kulikov are full of life and wonder.  Great book to introduce Calder and as an example of biographies.