Monsieur Marceau

The childlike humor of Marcel Marceau’s white-faced alter-ego, Bip, naturally appeals to many young children, making the famous mime a good subject for a picture-book biography for the very young. And Schubert knows just how to write for this audience ("Look at this man. He climbs imaginary stairs. He bows to an invisible person. He tames a lion no one can see. He plays a violin that isn’t there"). Her simple declarative sentences artfully capture the essence of Marceau as a performer, as do DuBois’s vigorous illustrations, which strikingly cast Marceau as a mostly white figure against a black background, giving us a sense of his stage performances and the singular way he communicated with his body. Everywhere are those expressive eyes, wide open and outlined in black, inviting us to see what he sees. The emphasis here is on Marceau as an artist, but Schubert does not shy away from the facts of his early life as a persecuted Jew during the Holocaust, and her understated style is all the more powerful for her crisp account of these events. Gloria Spielman’s Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime (rev. 11/11) is a more thorough biography in picture book form, but this one has so much more passion and gives a better sense of Marceau’s art. An afterword provides additional background, sources, further reading, and tips for getting started in mime. kathleen t. horning