Balloons Over Broadway

Balloons Over Broadway

By Melissa Sweet

Published By Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Copyright 2011

Balloons Over Broadway is a biography about Tony Sarg, a puppeteer who helped create the Macy's Day Parade. It follows Tony's life from the time he discovered his love for marionettes, to his travels to London and then to his start with Macy's. 

Interesting, Informational, Historical, Captivating, Inspirational

Reading Level/Lexile

5th Grade, 4th month/AD1000L

 

Suggested Delivery

Read Aloud

 

Electronic Resources

 http://melissasweet.net/

This is the author's website, which is an interactive and inviting webpage. This website provides information about the author, her contact information, other books she has written and also fun activities for students. 

http://social.macys.com/parade2012/?cm_mmc=VanityUrl-_-parade-_-n-_-n

This is the Macy Day Parade website for the year 2012. This has information about the parade, photos, videos, routes and even games. This allows the students to become more familiar with the parade and what it's like today.

Teaching Suggestions

1. Use this book for a history lesson.

2. Teach students how to use a timeline, by tracking the life of Tony Sarg.
3. The teacher can use this book to discuss the Macy's Day Parade the week of Thanksgiving, a tradition of the United States. 

 

Vocabulary

1. Marionette

2. Parade 

3. Helium

4. Articulate

5. Immigrants
6. Inspiration

 

Before Reading

Before reading the book the teacher can show a short video of the Macy's day parade from the previous year. The teacher will ask the kids to comment out loud about what they like and what they are fascinated about. 

 

During Reading

 While reading the book the students and the teacher will create a timeline together, they will track the life of Tony Sarg. This allows the students to learn about a timeline and how it works, they are also able to track the story.

After Reading/Writing Activity 

After reading the book the students will write about the differences they see in the book and the parade that happens today. They can add pictures to illustrate the difference as well.

 Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway. New York: Houghton Mifflin..