Reviews: (by author)

Gottfried, Maya. Last Night I Dreamed a Circus. Illus. Robert Rahway
Zakanitch. New York: Knopf (Random House), 2003. $15.95. 0-375-82388-3.

Gottfried's spare, lyrical imagery is lushly illustrated by master watercolorist Robert R. Zakanitch in a dramatic style using dark solid backgrounds. In the narrator's dream, jugglers throw roses, monkeys grin from trapeze rings, and dogs jump through hoops. My favorite painting shows a woman covered and clothed in exotic birds—no, not an exotic dancer, rather a gorgeous painting that shows at its best Zakanitch's flair for design and color. Maurice Sendak is quoted on the back flap: "Ingenious; original; simply a delicious wonder." The quality of imagination and execution of vision in this book brings to her readers the author's lifelong love of circus, its mystery, movement, and color.

Alida Allison, October 2003

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