Starring Mirette & Bellini (Picture Puffins)
Kindergarten-Grade 2.  The young star of the 1992 Caldecott winner, Mirette on the High Wire (Putnam, 1992), is now a full-fledged partner of the great Bellini. Together, they perform incredible feats across Europe culminating in a series of backwards somersaults on the Eiffel Tower. There is, however, one more sequence that Bellini can teach?the Death Walk. While Mirette is still practicing it, they are invited to perform in St. Petersburg where they will cross the frozen Neva River. When Bellini exhorts the czar-oppressed crowds to work for freedom, he is arrested and it falls to Mirette to rescue him?using the Death Walk to reach his prison cell. The attempt is successful and back in the cozy comfort of Paris the two ponder the merits of a journey to Niagara Falls. McCully's technique is the same as in the previous title, watercolors in an impressionistic style. However, the strong use of white that the artist employed in Mirette on the High Wire to focus attention is not present in the sequel. Some double-page spreads are too hazy and the darkness of the night when Mirette is reaching out to Bellini does not adequately convey the desperate daring of the midnight rescue. Still, fans of Mirette will certainly enjoy this second outing.?Susan Pine, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.