I have begun what seems like a futile quest: quality picture books about acting. There are plenty about dance and music, but very few about the theatre. I will be hunting them all down (out-of-print ones too!) to determine the best ones to use with your students.
We begin with, Beverly Billingsly Takes a Bow, by Alexander Stadler.
Beverly, a little gray animal that vaguely resembles a cross between a mouse and hippo, receives a box of dress-up clothes for her birthday. She loves them so much, that we are told, “Her parents never knew who would show up at the dinner table–jungle explorer, mad scientist, or tropical bird.” We soon discover that her teacher will be holding auditions for the school play. Beverly prepares “The Banana Song” which she practices diligently. But, after witnessing the amazing auditions of the children before her, she gets stage fright and can’t go through with it. She ends up being cast as “shrub” and “wall.” Her father eventually utters the famous lines, “there are no small parts, only small actors,” which causes Beverly to get to work contributing in other ways. In the end, she saves the day by whispering the correct lines to the leading lady who has suddenly suffered her own bout of stage fright.
Advertised for children ages 3-7, it read a lot like an Arthur book, with a little less gusto. The illustrations are cute, but add little to the story line beyond a literal interpretation of the words. The sentences are short and descriptive, but leave the character of Beverly a little one-dimensional. What I find disappointing about this book, though, are the adult assumptions that have been placed on a child’s world:
- Beverly gets stage fright at her audition. Although Stadler describes Beverly looking out at the audience and feeling frightened by the number of people watching her, this moment is over-powered by the preceding descriptions of the other auditions: nothing short of impressive and fearless. As such, we can only assume that Beverly is scared not because of the audience, but because of her apparent lack of talent. In reality, children get stage fright not because they think they’re not as good as other actors, but because they have never stood in front of an audience before. Only with age do children begin to feel self-conscious of their performances because they have witnessed performances they believe to be superior to their own.
- Beverly is sad because she only gets to say one line. In my experience, this sadness at not getting to play a particular part passes quickly. The cast has so much fun acting that they don’t even think about the relative size of their roles. It is only with age that we actors begin to covet others’ lines and need to be told, “there are no small parts, only small actors.” If Stadler really felt he wanted to illustrate this point, then Beverly should have been given the ability to audition without fear and still only receive her two little roles.
All in all, this book at least covers what it is to be in a play, including helping with costumes, advertising, and playing a character. Due to the weakness of the storyline, it’s not a great read for circle time, but it couldn’t hurt to put it in your library for children to pick up on their own.