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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
Dawdledale is a very mundane, dreary town. Everyone does what they’re supposed to do: they go to work, they go to school, they take care of the house. Everything is very neat and orderly and everything happens exactly when and how it should. That is what the Mayor insists. But when the Splendidly Spectacular Circus of Starzborough and its exuberant ringmaster, Calvin Callioni, arrive, the monotony and sameness of Dawdledale is challenged by excitement, fun and laughter. The Mayor is not a happy man. In fact, he is more determined than ever to maintain the same dreary life of Dawdledale that has been his mandate while he was in office.
Michelle Path’s clever picture book story, The Most Splendidly Spectacular Circus of Starzborough, is an amusing anecdote of how dreary life could be if everything really did stay the same, day after day after day. The conflict between the controlling bully of a Mayor and the entertaining, fun-loving leader of the circus carries the story along brilliantly. The illustrations are sensational. The only difficulty is the actual readability of the text, which is printed by hand, and not always very neatly, which makes it sometimes difficult to figure out the words. However, this is a good story that will both entertain and amuse young readers and old alike. And, it even addresses the issue of animal abuse in circuses, a growing concern for many. This circus has animals that have been rescued from abusive situations and, whilst they’ve been trained to do tricks, they are not forced to do tricks. In fact, if the animal decides not to do a trick, that is all part of the entertainment. An endearing and funny story.
