Matt Tavares never disappoints and Crossing Niagara is no different. There is a spread with double pages folded that open up to create a longer spread, the perfect way to illustrate the different feats that the “Great Blondin” achieved while crossing a tightrope over Niagara Falls. The facial expressions of both Blondin and his manager, Harry Colcord, his first “volunteer” to ride on his back show that this was truly no easy feat. I’d imagine the fact that Harry wasn’t prepared in the least made it more impressive to the audience, but also far more dangerous. I was interested in the way the “guy ropes” stabilized the line. It seems like such a feat just to set up the tightrope properly, let alone walk or do tricks across it. An author’s note and selected bibliography accompany the text and offer the reader more information about where Tavares located his information to craft such a dazzling tale.
Title: Crossing Niagara: The Death-Defying Tightrope Adventures of the Great Blondin
Author and Illustrator: Matt Tavares
Published 2016 by Candlewick Press
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6823-5
This copy was borrowed from the public library for purpose of review.
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