Tree Ring Circus

My two-year-old son has hundreds of books and most of them are a chore to read. Tree Ring Circus is a genuine pleasure. It's not a very long book, so it's a good choice when it's already five minutes past bedtime. The illustrations are lively and the writing is clever. Most of the characters never speak, but they all have their own personalities and you can tell exactly what each one is thinking from the look on his face. The text has its own sense of comic timing. The author fills up the book with all kinds of little jokes. Just reading the copyright page is fun on its own. Buy this book and add it to your collection. You'll be glad you did.

My 4 and [...] boys absolutely love this book. We read it repeatedly and it never gets old to them. At this point, they finish the lines, particularly the "Whopping Big Bee" part. A fantastic book that parents will be glad to read over and over again.

I bought this book for my son and he absolutely loves it. We read it every night and he points and names all the animals and counts them. I think it's a great toddler book.

It all begins innocently enough, "a seed in the ground, two rain clouds, then three... surprisingly there appears a fast-growing tree". A series of rhymes builds to an improbable event, where the fast-growing tree is home to a few strays: a cat, three chipmunks, two sparrows, a bee, five mice and a raven. But when a traveling circus stops nearby, clever apes unlock the cage, releasing a bevy of animals onto the limbs of the tree, among them: one lion, three squirrels, a clown, a bear, an ostrich and an elephant. The empty circus wagons rumble away down the hill, while the circus animals clamor up the branches of the tree, the elephant perched on top of this unusual balancing act. Of course, it is impossible! The poor tree collapses under the weight of too many creatures: "Thirty-three animals, counting the clown, get up off the ground, without making a sound." Where once grew a tree, tall and strong, nothing remains but a few twigs, trampled grass and the footprints of animals who fell back to earth. This imaginative and lively children's book is cleverly wrought, the illustrations also done by Adam Rex. Enchanting and whimsical, elaborate and colorful, the drawings are the backbone of this humorous tale, just as the tree gives shape to the nonsense rhymes. Any child will enjoy this laugh-out-loud fantasy journey again and again. Luan Gaines/2006.

What do you get when you mix a seed in the ground three miles out of town with nature, a runaway clown named Pogo, and thirty-three animals? Tree Ring Circus! Lyrical and melodious with a splash of whimsy, Adam Rex artfully intensifies the action as one seed grows into a tree full of circus animals...until the elephant shows up. The illustrations are masterful and fun and they incorporate the text flawlessly--yet maintain the circus feel. Not only do the readers see the action corresponding to the text, they also get frames of what happens between the pages, adding dimension to the story. This is a delightful read-aloud that will be accompanied with exclamations of, "Read it again, Mommy!" And Mommy will want to. Armchair Interviews says: Tree Ring Circus is smash hit and an instant classic.