Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth by Anna Feinberg

Title: Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth

Author: Anna Feinberg

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 4^th July 2923

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: A sweetly moving story about friendship and finding happiness, for readers who loved Wonder and Lenny’s Book of Everything.

Frances is in a new house in a new neighbourhood and going to a new school, but no amount of new can make her forget the old, sad secret dragging at her heart. Not the pictures of bacteria that she draws with painstaking precision, not even Picasso, the puppy with the long soft ears and the cute black circle like a target on his bottom. Then Frances meets Kit, the tall, quiet boy with the two-coloured eyes. Kit is a real artist. His coloured pencils fill page after page of exercise books. He sees wonder in the rocks and ferns and sky. Though Kit has worries of his own.

But when secrets are spilled, Frances’s life turns grey and drab. Not even Picasso’s wet nose can brighten her up. Frances and Kit will need to face the truth of their pasts to find colour in their world again. After all, don’t the most brilliant sunsets need a cloudy sky?

A beautiful novel about finding the remarkable in the ordinary and celebrating the wonder of every day, from the award-winning author of Borrowed Light.

~*~

Frances is starting high school, in a new town near Armidale, Oatfield. Dad’s gone overseas to write about vaccines and bad things in Pakistan, and Mum is either working or hiding in her room – mourning. Frances is on her own, trying to look after a puppy called Picasso as she carries an old, sad secret in her heart. Not even school and her pictures of bacteria can lift her spirit. When Frances meets Kit, a tall boy with two-coloured eyes, she is in awe, and sees that he is a real artist – much better than her. Frances and Kit become friends, and he shows her things about art and nature that she has never seen before, things that make her want to talk to him – and only him – about the secret that is weighing her heart down. But like Frances has her secrets, Kit has his as well, and together, they discover the healing power of art and a special connection that means they don’t always need to talk about everything – and that being friends means letting people in as well, and that there will always be people who are there for you. It is a beautiful story about friendship, art, and finding the truth in your life.

The title, Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth, implied something very different to what it delivers. It suggests a big performance or play, maybe even a circus with zest and gusto. But no, what we get is a somewhat mournful, very gentle story about art, family, friendship, secrets, and grief. Frankie is grieving the loss of her younger brother, Henry, but she feels alone. She blames herself – a story that unfolds as the novel progresses, as does Kit’s story. I loved that Kit and Frances bonded over art, and how he, and her neighbour, Peggy, didn’t find her obsession with drawing bacteria and germs weird, like her pictures of Yersinia Pestis for an art project – that was a very interesting plot point. I liked that this book celebrated art and the way it can be seen in anything, and how anything can become a piece of art. It was a love letter to close friendship and dealing with grief, as well as coming together, and being there for each other when you need it the most. Frances’s parents think new everything will help her – but it was very obvious that none of this helped Frances – that she needed someone to talk to and that someone was Kit. And she needed her art and the mural she was painting with Kit to put all her feelings into – and art is always somewhere we turn to when we need to process our feelings – books, paintings, music – they can reflect what we are feeling and show us that it is okay to feel that way.

And Picasso, a dog – I didn’t expect that – I thought it might be a nickname before I read about the book. It worked so well – such a fitting name for the puppy of an artist. Picasso was scared of things, like Frances and Kit, and seeing the three of them go on a journey to learn how to trust and accept what has happened or what is going on and to speak the fears (or in Picasso’s case, show his fears through how he reacted to some people) was an emotional ride. It was filled with ups and downs, tears and joy in a compelling story that has a loud quietness about it. It’s not an action-packed, go, go, go story that has you on the edge of your seat like a thriller or action story – rather, it is a story about internal thoughts and how the outside can reflect what you are feeling and heal you. The loudness is in the range of emotions Frances and Kit experience throughout the novel, exposing how they function in the world and how they make sense of everything and everyone around them. I was wholly captured by this story – with everything that the characters did and felt. This book is one that will enter your heart and stay there, because you can sense that the characters need you and that you need them. Readers aged ten and older are the target audience for this book, and it can be good to help readers understand their grief, anxiety or feelings of isolation and wanting to find a way to fit in with the world or find a friend when they’re in a new place. This book is like a warm, comforting hug when you need a friend, and I found myself wanting to read on to find out what had happened yet at the same time, it felt like one to savour and sit with so my reading pace could match France’s pace as she slowly revealed what had happened to her brother.

I liked this book because it was a quiet book with a touch of loudness, a celebration of friendship and a recognition of grief and the challenges of mental health and the impacts that grief and mental health struggles can have on us and our lives, and by extension, those around us. I also liked that it has a settling feeling – one that reassures readers that even when things seem like they won’t ever get better, there is always something that can help us pull through and accept what has happened. Another lovely book from Anna Feinberg.