T
his abecedarium of circus posters introduces a collection of turn-of-the-century sideshow acts. It’s clear that newcomer Beccia’s own interest lies with circus posters as an art form; her most enthusiastic audience may be type designers and graphic artists. For younger readers, the flat, folk-Gothic style paintings soften the impact of occasionally disturbing images (a tattooed man, a bearded lady, a part mermaid/part monkey creature). For the letter “w,” Waino and Plutano, the “Wild Men of Borneo,” are painted as peculiar caricatures against a mustard-colored background. Beccia’s verse description, with shaky meter, says, “W is for Wicked/ A Devious Duo/ Can’t behave, too depraved/ They belong in Borneo.” In the text below each page’s plate, Beccia works to demystify the circus (“The brothers’ real names were Barney and Hiram, and they were natives of Long Island, New York”), but doesn’t go into seemingly necessary detail (such as why the inhabitants of Borneo were thought so depraved). She explains the derivation of expressions like “hold your horses” (yelled by the crier at the head of the circus procession, who knew what happened when horses saw wild animals) and “jumbo” (the elephant’s name gave rise to the adjective that means “big,” not the other way around). Though modern circuses are certainly tamer than the turn-of-the-century versions explored here, today’s readers may be as entranced by Beccia’s depictions of such spectacles as their forebearers were by the real thing. Ages 6-10. (Apr.)
