Julie Cummins (Booklist, Mar. 1, 2003 (Vol. 99, No. 13))
Using his inimitable picture-book-biography style, Brown turns a camera's eye on film pioneer Mack Sennett. The opening line sets the stage for this witty, fascinating profile of the King of Comedy: "In 1900, twenty-year-old Mack Sennett was a horse's rear end." It was "a silly role in a foolish skit on a shabby Manhattan stage, but it was his stage debut and Mack dreamed of being a show business star." In concise, brilliantly understated text, Brown recounts how Sennett broke into the new entertainment business, how he applied slapstick techniques from Vaudeville to the movies, how his Keystone Kops became the hit of silent pictures, and how he introduced Charlie Chaplin to the world. Especially fine in conveying facial expression, Brown's spare, fluid sketches, softly washed in sepia and butterscotch tones, cunningly capture the look of the times. A tiny sketch of a dog dancing appears in the lower right-hand corner of each spread, forming a miniature flipbook, and boxed quotes spliced into the scenes add bits of Sennett's droll personality. A one-page author's note provides a wide-angle view of Sennett, followed by a seven-book bibliography of adult books. From its alliterative title and a narrative as precise as comic timing, to a cinematic beginning that spotlights Sennett donning the horse suit, this is like watching a pie-in-the-face routine; it simply smacks with delight. Ingeniously staged and picture perfect, it's Brown's best book yet. Category: Books for the Young--Nonfiction. 2003, Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $16.95, $23.9. Gr. 1-4. Starred Review