It’s lovely and heartfelt and very special. She uses symbolism, like the face paint for removing barriers, the connection of the characters through held hands, and their very different hats being removed and shared and eventually exchanged. I’m not sure how Frazee manages to convey so much in a wordless format. But somehow, the ending is not sad as the little clown returns to his family and the farmer returns to his farm, both changed forever. While on the picnic, they hear a train coming and it is the circus train filled with clowns. Soon the two are living a mix of their two lives: eggs are gathered and juggled, hard work is shared, and the two head out on a picnic together. Along with the light of dawn, the farmer starts to cheer up the little clown with silly faces and antics. The farmer sits with him as he tries to fall asleep. Now it is the little clown who is worried and sad, his smile removed with the water. There, the two of them sit together, share a meal and eventually wash up and the clown washes off his face paint. The farmer is clearly reluctant to take in the bright little smiling clown, but he does anyway, taking him by the hand back to his tiny house. The desolate and flat landscape is unbroken until the bright circus train passes. In a wordless picture book, Frazee captures what happens when a young clown falls off of a circus train and is rescued by a lonely farmer.
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