Sandy's Circus

I did my book talk on Sandy's Circus by Tanya Lee Stone.

It is a biography on the artist Alexander Calder who went by the nickname "Sandy."  Sandy came from artistic parents and was very artistic himself.  He did all kinds of art but making sculptures was his true passion.  What was unique about Sandy was that he didn't consider himself an artist and he didn't consider his creations to be art.  He created things because of his love of creating, not to become a famous artist.  Well, it turns out that he became known as an artist anyway.  Sandy made many pieces but this book puts a focus on a circus he made out of scrap metal.

What I liked about this book was that even though it is a biography/ non-fiction and really informational, it is still in picture book form and written at a level for young kids to understand.  When first getting it from the non-fictional biography section I automatically assumed that it would be geared towards older kids.  After reading I realized that preconception was wrong and I would definitely read it to a class as young as first graders.

I think a fun activity would be to have students try to collect things they would normally throw away and have each student make something circus themed then put them all on display.