THE GREATEST OPPOSITES BOOK ON EARTH
by Lee Singh ; illustrated by Tom Frost
Hinged flaps and other devices allow a bevy of circus performers to demonstrate opposites.
An unmitigated flop from beginning to end, this uninspired show invites readers beneath the big top to see one windup bird and a white-skinned human cast—stereotypically similar-looking men with bristling facial hair and a sad-faced woman who performs twice with her eyes closed—unexcitingly go from “Here” to “There, “Down” to “Up,” or (arbitrarily abandoning the general premise) “Wet” to “Dry” beneath a shower of rain. A die-cut daisy chain intended to transform a “Few” acrobats into “Many” when flipped is a paper-engineering fail, as all of the figures are plainly visible even when the flap is closed, and instead of going from “Low” to “High” when her accordion-folded platform is extended upward, a juggler confusingly starts “Short” and ends up “Tall.” At the close the ringmaster takes a “Quiet” bow, then bellows “I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW!” Unlikely.
More like the Greatest Snooze on Earth, particularly next to Suse MacDonald’s effervescent Circus Opposites (2010) (Novelty. 3-5)