Cheap Mickey Takes a Bow (Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Book) (Book) (Doug Cushman) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mickey Takes a Bow (Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Book)

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Mickey Takes a Bow was one of her picks.

Mickey is the youngest child in a family of trapeze artists who perform with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Unlike his siblings, he finds physical things hard to do. He was slow to walk, tends to be clumsy, and is afraid of heights. When he Mother encouraged him to be in the act by carrying the family's banner, disaster follows! His costume is too large, and he falls down. What makes it worse is that people laugh at him. Poor Mickey is miserable.

But Mickey has a good quality -- he likes to help people. Jody, the chimpanzee trainer, also points out that he's good at making people laugh. And making people laugh makes them feel better. Mickey points out that it doesn't make him feel any better.

Pretty soon the lion tamer is having trouble getting the lion to perform. The lion had a tooth pulled and is in a bad mood. Mickey did imitations of other animals for the lion, and pretty soon the lion was grinning. Boris, the lion tamer, complimented him as "brilliant." Then he found his friend, Molly, crying because her ostrich wouldn't take its head out of the sand. Mickey gently tickled the ostrich, and pretty soon the head popped out. Then Jim, one of the tumblers, was laid up with a sprained ankle and was feeling sad. Jim asked Mickey to keep him company. Mickey told some jokes and started juggling. Jim was soon laughing very hard. Jim felt better, and so did Mickey. After that, Mickey was pretty busy because everyone came to Mickey whenever they needed a laugh.

Then one night the ringmaster came to see Mickey. And Mickey went on to become the youngest clown in the circus.

The beauty of this story is that the child who is the butt of taunts and feels down on her or himself can see that people excel in different ways. This can be the beginning of learning to find one's own special self and what one's special talents are.

The myths of any society tend to favor some types of excellence over others. Yet balanced excellence across the society is the best for all. And this is what we are most likely to be able to produce, because we are all so different. Are you working at what you love to do? If not, use this wonderful book to rethink your work . . . as well as helping children to find the right roles for them.