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    Sandy's Circus

    A Story About Alexander Calder

    Author Tanya Lee Stone
    Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
    Look inside
    Hardcover
    $18.99 US
    Penguin Young Readers | Viking Books for Young Readers
    9.38"W x 11"H x 0.34"D  
    On sale Sep 04, 2008 | 40 Pages | 9780670062683
    Grades 1-3
    Reading Level: Lexile AD600L
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    As a boy, Alexander ?Sandy? Calder was always fiddling with odds and ends, making objects for friends. When he got older and became an artist, his fiddling led him to create wire sculptures. One day, Sandy made a lion. Next came a lion cage. Before he knew it, he had an entire circus and was traveling between Paris and New York performing a brand-new kind of art for amazed audiences.

    This is the story of Sandy?s Circus, as told by Tanya Lee Stone with Boris Kulikov?s spectacular and innovative illustrations. Calder?s original circus is on permanent display at the Whitney Museum in New York City.

    I love my job. There, I said it. I mean, who wouldn’t? I get to go to work in my pajamas, eat cold pizza for breakfast if I want, and make up stories all day. And hey, if I’m watching a movie or reading a book, that’s not goofing off–that’s called research.

    All right, it’s true, there is a lot more to it than that. I work hard. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. To get paid for doing what you absolutely love–that’s success in my book. I’ve been writing stories since I was seven years old. Some of them were even published–in the school newspaper. Hey, that counts! I went to a performing arts high school and studied theater and music. Then I moved to Ohio to attend Oberlin College, where I got my degree in English and studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

    After college, I hit Manhattan and got my first job as an editor. I thought it would be so glamorous! It wasn’t. But I did learn a lot of really important things, like how to write contracts, file in an organized fashion, walk not run, check facts, not use office time to talk to my boyfriend, secure photo permissions–you get the idea. Soon, though, I was reading and editing manuscripts. Now that was cool. I was an editor for more than a dozen years, before I moved away from the city to a place where there were more cows than editors.

    So, I went back to my roots and I started writing again. I think it worked out pretty well. I hope you do, too. Oh, and if you want to know some quirky things about me, I made a list.

    5 Things I Hate

    Fois gras
    The word “tasty”
    Driving slow
    Small talk
    Small mindedness

    5 Things I Love

    Chocolate-covered pretzels
    Singing in the rain
    Marathon movie-watching on a rainy day
    Broadway musicals
    Springer spaniels View titles by Tanya Lee Stone
    Boris Kulikov View titles by Boris Kulikov
    • WINNER
      School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

    About

    As a boy, Alexander ?Sandy? Calder was always fiddling with odds and ends, making objects for friends. When he got older and became an artist, his fiddling led him to create wire sculptures. One day, Sandy made a lion. Next came a lion cage. Before he knew it, he had an entire circus and was traveling between Paris and New York performing a brand-new kind of art for amazed audiences.

    This is the story of Sandy?s Circus, as told by Tanya Lee Stone with Boris Kulikov?s spectacular and innovative illustrations. Calder?s original circus is on permanent display at the Whitney Museum in New York City.

    Author

    I love my job. There, I said it. I mean, who wouldn’t? I get to go to work in my pajamas, eat cold pizza for breakfast if I want, and make up stories all day. And hey, if I’m watching a movie or reading a book, that’s not goofing off–that’s called research.

    All right, it’s true, there is a lot more to it than that. I work hard. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. To get paid for doing what you absolutely love–that’s success in my book. I’ve been writing stories since I was seven years old. Some of them were even published–in the school newspaper. Hey, that counts! I went to a performing arts high school and studied theater and music. Then I moved to Ohio to attend Oberlin College, where I got my degree in English and studied voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

    After college, I hit Manhattan and got my first job as an editor. I thought it would be so glamorous! It wasn’t. But I did learn a lot of really important things, like how to write contracts, file in an organized fashion, walk not run, check facts, not use office time to talk to my boyfriend, secure photo permissions–you get the idea. Soon, though, I was reading and editing manuscripts. Now that was cool. I was an editor for more than a dozen years, before I moved away from the city to a place where there were more cows than editors.

    So, I went back to my roots and I started writing again. I think it worked out pretty well. I hope you do, too. Oh, and if you want to know some quirky things about me, I made a list.

    5 Things I Hate

    Fois gras
    The word “tasty”
    Driving slow
    Small talk
    Small mindedness

    5 Things I Love

    Chocolate-covered pretzels
    Singing in the rain
    Marathon movie-watching on a rainy day
    Broadway musicals
    Springer spaniels View titles by Tanya Lee Stone
    Boris Kulikov View titles by Boris Kulikov

    Awards

    • WINNER
      School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

    Other Books by this Author

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