The Clown of God

Celebrated children's author and illustrator Tomie dePaola retells the medieval French legend of The Little Juggler in this beautiful picture book, changing the setting from France to Italy, and adding a poignant, bittersweet ending not found in the original. Orphaned Giovanni has but one skill in this tale: that os juggling. Becoming a traveling performer, he wins acclaim and juggles in front and dukes and princes. But when he grows old and can no longer perform, he finds himself ridiculed by the public, and driven away with sharp words and stones. Putting away his juggling, he heads home to his native town of Sorrento, where he seeks shelter one Christmas Eve in a monastery. Here, ashamed that he has nothing to offer the Virgin Mary show more and Christ Child, he makes his last performance: giving his all, his very life, in a marvelous show which leads to a miracle...

I grew up with The Clown of God, which was one of my favorite picture books as a child, and I never fail to be moved by its story of a man of talent who, growing old and finding the world a hard place, comes home to God by offering all that he has—both his performance and his life—as a gift. In the original, as I have learned, there is no death involved in this miracle, and while I am normally on the side of retelling traditional tales in their original form, here the changes made by dePaola create a truly moving story. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Tomie dePaola some years ago, when this 2018 reprint was published and I was managing a children's bookstore, and in the course of our conversation he told me that this new edition was a better representation, visually, of his original intention for the book, than the first edition from the 1970s. Apparently that first edition didn't get the colors quite right. He also told me that, of all his books, this was his favorite, something I was so delighted to learn, as it is also mine. The artwork is beautiful of course, in that vintage dePaola style, but it is the storytelling which is truly captivating, capturing the poignancy of growing old and of feeling cast aside and worthless, and the joy of discovering one has something still to give. Recommended to dePaola fans, and to picture book readers looking for miraculous stories touching on issues of aging, faith and bringing the best that one has to God. It would pair very nicely with Barbara Cooney's retelling of the original French version of the story, The Little Juggler. show less

I first encountered The Clown of God in college, during a course on spirituality and developmental psychology. It tells the story of a poor beggar boy who finds joy and fame in his juggling -- and surprising blessings as well.

dePaola does an excellent job adapting this "old story" to medieval Italy; the setting fits the story like a glove. The delightful illustrations bring the story to life. My children love pouring over the rich images.

A great story for kids and adults alike, The Clown of God gets my highest recommendation.

A young boy travels around Italy and pleases crowds with his juggling. As the boy ages he learns that his juggling is a way to give glory to God.

The key element of this book are the illustrations. They vividly show how Giovanni ages throughout his journey and the different audiences/advisers he encounters. The rainbow colored balls, that Giovanni juggled, showed the consistency of his life, the joy he brought others, and the wonderful skill he had mastered. This book has an underlying message about religion, which some students may not understand or pick up on. However, I feel the larger message in this story is to value the skills you have and use them to share joy with those around you. This book can be used during a multicultural show more unit about Italy, folktales, or religion. show less

A sacrifice and a miracle, a la' [b:The Cat Who Went to Heaven|836240|The Cat Who Went to Heaven|Elizabeth Coatsworth|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1295626620s/836240.jpg|821853]. I'm an atheist, and I still appreciate the beauty of this fable. Possibly a little long for the youngest tots, but I'd love to see what a small child would get out of this, as there are accessible aspects like the fact that the MC always concludes his juggling performance with 'the Sun in the Heavens.'

This book was actually a big surprise for me. I think it has a lot of religious influence and a strong message. The illustrations really give a lot to the story. It shows how Giovanni grows with age and sadness, and how his clothes became rags. The pictures also show how the crowds reacted to his juggling, when they loved him, and they hated him after he dropped the golden ball. Also, the story line showed how Giovanni’s life gave him great experiences. He had no mother and father, but fended for himself and figured out how to survive through his juggling. Giovanni then goes to discover how happy he can make others with his skill. He uses it to make people laugh and smile, but only realizes this at the end of the story when he needs show more to give a gift to the Holy Child. The big message in the book is to never take for granted a skill. It can eventually lead you to something great. In Giovanni’s case, he ended up dying with the Holy Child accepting Giovanni’s gift. show less

Lovingly illustrated by Tomie dePaola, this tale brought me to tears. The story of Giovanni the clown who brings joy to all the people of Italy, until he becomes old and they turn on him. So he goes home and falls asleep in the church. His last act in life is to try to bring joy to the Holy Child on Christmas day. It's really beautiful. This could be a great morality tale to share with children. The message that sometimes just putting a smile on someone's face is a good deed.

This would be a great book to read to your class during a renaissance lesson unit. It speaks of a beggar that learns the art of juggling and travels the world performing for people and princes. He juggles for the love of making people laugh and smile. The story comes full circle when one day his audience throws tomatoes at him and he becomes a beggar once more. He learns of Jesus, except the book amazingly hints at religion because he does not say Jesus or Mary. On Christmas, he has no gifts to give to the Savior so he once again juggles his best act yet/, dies, and baby Jesus is holding one of his juggling balls. He was a selfless man, performing for people and in the end, he gave his life to the Lord. It is a very huge concept that show more the author subtly introduces to his readers.

Religion based questions:
What gifts can we give to God?
What gifts did God give to us?

Non-religion based question:
How can we be more selfless towards others? show less