by Moe Zilla

Created on: July 14, 2010

"Robert and the Balloon Machine" describes a boy's night-time visit to the circus, accompanied by some very colorful and realistic drawings. Robert's still wearing his bathrobe throughout the story, implying that his adventure is simply a dream. But it's narrated in a style that's simple and straightforward, making his dreamy circus visit seem like something that really happened. And the book's lifelike illustrations help to create an eerie sense of magic.

The combination of the simple text and the colorful but realistic drawings reminds me of the illustrations in the "Dick and Jane" books. "One night, when the moon was at its fullest..." the book begins, with the sentence fragment printed in bold, easy-to-read letters. ("Robert slipped out of bed," the narration continues on the next page, and on the next page he's still just looking out his window...) There's bright moonlight shining on his face, and some attractive night-time drawings of the peaceful neighborhood where he lives. But eventually - under that bright and shining moon - he reaches the striped tents of the circus that's waiting on the edge of town.

"Robert looked at the sleeping tigers, the sleeping horses," reads the caption below a series of drawings, and the narration continues on the facing page, where there's "a silent but watchful elephant." There's something especially exotic about visiting the wild animals at the circus while they're all asleep. It's surreal to visit deserted midway - with the painting horses on the carousel standing still. And when Robert pulls apart the folds of the Big Top's circus tent, it's a dark, night-time blue.

Illustrator Tim Solliday apparently went on to become a well-respected landscape oil painter, according to Wikipedia. But I love the way his illustrations match the theme of the book. The bleachers are deserted inside the circus tent, but Robert finds a red machine that fills balloons, "hissing quietly. It said 'yess.'"

There's no balloons, but Robert finds a green trunk with a clown hat. When he fills it with air from the machine, there's a puff of grey mist that turns into a clown. A violin bow turns into a violinist, "playing a silent duet with the clown." And as both of them floating up into the sky, Robert inflates a drumstick which becomes a drummer who, also floating in the air, keeps his rhythm to a silent beat.

I like the gentleness of this story, and I think it'd make a good bedtime story. The dream-like wonders match well with the night-time themes, as the little boy produces a ballerina from a slipper, who now dances to the silent music. When Robert fills his own slipper with air from the machine, a second ballet dancer appears joins the floating troupe. Robert invents his own tune for the silent performers, until they float through the hole in the Big Top and rise up towards the moon. Then he returns to his bed and closes his eyes, knowing the magical performers will eventually float back down to earth, and spread their joy somewhere else.

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