They are two freaks on display in different circuses. Ms. Rubinstein is a bearded lady; Mr. Pavlov is the Elephant Man with a long proboscis. But when they meet on a bench in the park, they find the beauty and grace in each other, and they fall in love. The double-page spreads, colored with lots of red and black, begin with people gaping in the park, seeing only ugliness. Then the art moves close up to show what Mr. Pavlov sees in Ms. Rubinstein--huge, gorgeous eyes and a lovely nose--and what she sees in him, including his thick, wavy red hair. Everyone feels like a monster sometimes, whether it is because of a zit on the nose or the extra pound on the waistline, and even children who begin by laughing at the strangeness of the characters will eventually grasp the operatic romance of two outcasts who find each other.
Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2—This book begins, "Ms. Rubinstein is a beautiful woman. But nobody knows it," and the elegantly dressed woman is shown with her back to readers. On the opposite page, she is depicted in close-up, with a fan covering the lower half of her face: "Ms. Rubinstein has very beautiful eyes. But nobody sees them." As the story progresses, readers are shown more of Ms. Rubinstein's lovely attributes, until finally the fan is removed to reveal that she is the Bearded Lady of a visiting circus. On her day off, she goes to the park. No one seems to notice her kindness in feeding the birds, except for the pigeons and Mr. Pavlov, who sits next to her. In this scene, the lower part of his face is obscured by a scarf, while Ms. Rubinstein's face is completely unadorned. The two steal admiring glances at one another, then gaze directly into one another's eyes, and walk away hand in hand. Onlookers do not see the pair's smiles or growing love. They can only gawk at Ms. Rubinstein's beard, and Mr. Pavlov's trunk-he is the Elephant Man of another circus visiting the town. The stylized illustrations in bold and muted hues of red, black, and beige complement the text. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and readers will find much beauty in these characters, and in their story.—
DeAnn Okamura, San Mateo County Library, CA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
