The Great Antonio by Elise Gravel

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Great Antonio by Elise Gravel Elizabeth Bush Gravel, Elise The Great Antonio; written and illus. by Elise Gravel. Toon Books, 2016 56p ISBN 978-1-943145-08-9 $12.95 R Gr. 2-4 Eccentric showmen often spawn biographies that conflate fact and promotional hype. In this easy reader, presented in zany comics-styled drawing and ballyhoo lettering, Gravel has a fine time playing on the ambiguities in the life of professional wrestler and strongman Antonio Barichievich. She casts his early years in Croatia (a probable, if not positively confirmed, locale) as a tall tale, with toddler Antonio overwhelming his undersized rocking horse and twelve-year-old Antonio pulling a tree, stump and all, from the ground. Shifting into his adult feats seems just an extension of the general malarkey, but the rapid-fire data Gravel provides is largely the real deal, from his prodigious weight (over 460 pounds), to his world record for hauling a 400-ton train, to his loner lifestyle with an “office” in a donut shop. A photograph of Antonio on the opening endpapers assures readers that he was no Paul Bunyan-esque myth and also allows them to appreciate that Gravel’s loony caricature version—in all his massive, hirsute glory—is not far off the mark. No bibliography or recommended reading list lead kids to further sources, and those who launch their own online investigation will quickly see that there’s a measure of raunchiness and sadness to Antonio’s life that’s missing in this comical account. Recommend this title along with Debon’s The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr (BCCB 5/07) to kids you find poring over the Guinness Book of World Records. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois