From 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. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-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.
Susan Pine, New York Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. |
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