cover image Catcher

Catcher

Mia Wolff. Farrar Straus Giroux, $16 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-374-31227-5

When Mia visits the circus in its winter camp near her town, she becomes enthralled with the trapeze and determines to learn to perform on it-despite her fear of heights. A sparse text describes her training as a ``catcher,'' illuminating her terror when it is ``time to go upstairs'' (to the big trapeze) and culminating in her first performance, where she discovers the thrill of ``floating in space.'' Dramatic oil paintings, touched with streaks of black, crackle with a sense of danger, then swirl with movement and excitement as Mia begins to fly. A mixture of shadow and intense color, of silhouette and sparkle, conjures up the world beneath the Big Top. Vertiginous perspectives add to the heady sensations of Mia's exhilarating escapade. Ages 3-7. (Oct.)