Circus

Wonderfully illustrated story by Lois Ehlert. She catches the sounds of the circus as the reader is taken through the acts in the circus. Her humor is obvious as we watch the flying zucchini brothers. I use this story in my circus themed units in the elementary school.

I read this book to my kindergarten classroom. The students and I enjoyed everything about the book. The story reeled you in at the beginning making you feel like you were at the circus. The illustrations are bold and colorful. It is another must have by Lois Elhert.

In Lois Ehlert's Circus, the banter of the narrator leads the reader through a circus performance of animals and people. Each act contains an unusual character demonstrating a feat seen at a circus, such as Flying Zucchinis in the air. Even the intermission contains zany characters selling circus food and souvenirs. Ehlert's characters are depicted with cut paper to make a collage of vivid colored oblique and geometric shapes to form the energetic pictures that cover each double page spread. Although the pages appear to be an easy reader, the vocabulary and illustrations classify this as a picture book. There is enough alliteration to make the text rhythmic: the "mighty, massive mammoth" and the "twisting triple somersault", but not too much that it seems infantile to older readers. The illustrations, however, are suited more for younger children, as they are eye catching but lack detail. Ehlert also chooses to do something different with this story's illustrations than she has in her other books. Typically those pictures have labels for different items that need to be identified, but in this book, she chooses to work on the simplicity of the pictures. This book is ideal for children who are 3-7 yrs old, because the story makes the reader feel as if they were really at a circus, with the text asking us to take a seat in the beginning and end with everyone giving a round of applause to the circus performers. However, this story will surely appeal to all ages because of the pacing of the story that makes it impossible to not turn the next page.

This maybe my students favorite book. It's a very pretend/ dramatic play oriented book. My students pretend they're that audience, ringmaster, performer, lion and dancing bear!