Balloons over Broadway

Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's parade. NY: Houghton.

This creative biography informs the reader about the life of Tony Sarg began as a marionette maker in London,  eventually moving to New York and designed the first Thanksgiving Day Parade.  In the years following, Sarg figured out ways to make the parade better and better, so that everyone could see, and eventually came up with the iconic ideas for the big balloons we see in today's parades.  This intriguing informational book/Biography reads like an engaging narrative story, with problems and solutions.  The use of the scrapbook collage looking illustrations is also engaging for readers.  At the end of the book, there are also clear notes and works cited.  This is a wonderful resource to use when teaching literary non-fiction and how the genre doesn't have a set form.  It's also a great resource to use to show students how to cite work and give other's credit for information found when doing research.