WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY MELISSA SWEET
Published by HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
“Let’s have a parade!
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Everyone’s a New Yorker on Thanksgiving Day, when young and old rise early to see what giant new balloons will fill the skies for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Who first invented these "upside-down puppets"? Meet Tony Sarg, puppeteer extraordinaire! In brilliant collage illustrations, Caldecott Honor artist Melissa Sweet tells the story of the puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America—the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy’s Parade.
Find this award winning picture book biography at local independent bookstores, through IndieBound, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or in your local library.
FOR EDUCATORS: There are a number of great ways to share this picture book biography with readers of all ages. Download the EDUCATOR’S GUIDE, the ACTIVITY KIT including templates for making finger puppets and designing your own parade balloons.
Here’s a short video celebrating the Texas Bluebonnet Nomination.
The University of Minnesota Kerlan Collection created the Engineering of a Picture Book, a comprehensive digital resource about the making this picture book biography.
ALA Sibert Medal
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
Bank Street College of Education Cook Prize honoring the best science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) picture book
Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award
“Sweet’s brilliant combination of collage, design, illustration and text give Balloons Over Broadway an amazing richness. . . [no one] will ever see the parade in the same way.”
“ony Sarg, the man who invented the giant balloons of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, has found a worthy biographer in Caldecott Honoree Sweet. The rush that comes from inspiration, the cliffhanger moments of creation, the sheer joy of building something and watching it delight the multitudes—Sweet captures it all in what is truly a story for all ages.”
“Sweet tells this slice of American history well, conveying both Sarg’s enthusiasm and joy in his work as well as the drama and excitement of the parade. . .This one should float off the shelves.
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“This clever marriage of information and illustration soars high.”
“Sweet’s artwork is as joyous an affair as its subject.”
“A joyous piece of nonfiction that informs and delights in equal parts.”
“Sweet’s whimsical mixed-media collages, embellished with little dolls she made herself out of odds and ends, reinforce the theme that, for Sarg, work was play.
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