Engaging tales focus on artists

All children are artists, at least until self-consciousness sets in.

Perhaps reading about real people who never lost that picture of themselves as artists will help keep the creative flame alive.

Two engaging new books profile two very different artists, one well-known, the other less so.

"Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder," by Tanya Lee Stone, looks at the childhood and early adulthood of the man who babies everywhere can thank for the invention of the mobile.

Sandy, as he was called, made things from an early age. With a sculptor for a father and a painter for a mother, he was provided plenty of tools, materials and space to work.

He made toys and jewelry from wire, leather and wood scraps and built his sister a doll castle.

Later, after several jobs he disliked, Sandy went to art school. He was hired by a newspaper to draw the Ringling Brother and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

He loved the circus, and he'd always loved working with wire and other scraps. He became inspired to create small circus figures out of wire, cork, buttons, yarn, leather and bits of wood.

Stone's descriptions pair with Boris Kulikov's whimsical illustrations to capture the enchantment of the ever-more elaborate circus that eventually filled five suitcases. He traveled between Paris and New York putting on shows.

"On his knees, this bear of a man worked the springs and strings and levers of his clever creations, making them leap, run and dance. Hear the whistle blow! Horns blare! Seals bark, tossing a ball from nose to nose."

Stone writes that sometimes Calder's show went on for hours, with chariot races, belly dancers and injuries that required a stretcher and rescue workers.

The shows became popular in both cities. Stone includes quotes, presumably from sources cited in a bibliography, saying the circus was "full of joy and fun." People wrote that Calder's work was "always in motion" and that his art "has the force of an ocean."

A last spread briefly describes Calder's more famous work. Kulikov's wonderful illustration shows the artist sitting in a small circus ring studying a tangle of wire. He's surrounded by black and white piles of scraps. Floating above are several of his iconic mobiles.

Stone was wise to focus on the circus as a tool to spark youngsters' interest in this amazing artist. Then, when they come across him again, they might say, "I remember him. He made a little circus."