Smile: How Young Charlie Chaplin Taught the World to Laugh (and Cry)

Golio and Young create a lively and poetic homage to Charlie Chaplin. Despite living in poverty, Chaplin’s household fostered his love of acting, clowning, and musical theater. Golio’s rhythmic prose conjures the spirit of tragicomedy behind Chaplin’s performances: “Charlie began to understand/ How Funny and Sad went hand in hand.” Young’s ink and torn paper collage–work includes newsprint, colored paper, fabrics, and shadowy silhouettes; the sophisticated, abstract images communicate the exaggerated theatricality of silent film, as well as Chaplin’s iconic style and underlying complexity. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)