Milane

Milane Petrovich is a Hungarian gypsy. In the summer the Petrovich family are constantly on the move with their tiny circus, performing at every town and village that they come to. Day after day Milane walks beside the horse-drawn wagon and helps with the animals.

In winter the circus goes into camp. While Milane's father and sister practice their acrobatics, Milane helps to teach the animals new tricks or gathers reeds by the stream for his mother to make into baskets. Then one day Milane goes further, into the forbidden marsh, the haunt of lynx, soaring eagles, and bellowing stags. Suddenly in a clearing Milane sees a flock of huge birds clustering menacingly around the still body of a young fawn.

Robert Vavra's beautiful full-color photographs and brief text tell how Milane nurses the forsaken fawn back to health and how a friendship develops between Milane and the fawn as they roam the marshes together, until it is tome once more for the little circus to take to the open road.

This touching story not only illuminates life in a foreign country but also makes a noteworthy addition to Mr. Vavra's books for children.