OLD BET AND THE START OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS

bookshelf

OLD BET AND THE START OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS

Name: OLD BET AND THE START OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS
Author: Robert M. McClung
ISBN: 0-688-10642-0

by Robert M. McClung & illustrated by Laura Kelly ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 1993

bookshelf

Even before Barnum, there was Bailey: Hackaliah Bailey, an entrepreneur who, in 1808, purchased an elephant from a sea captain and took her back to his farm in Somers, New York, where he housed her in his barn, exhibited her to neighbors, and then took her on the road. In time, he added other animals to create ``Bailey's Traveling Show and Menagerie,'' which toured New York and New England, included clowns and acrobats, and was displayed in ``the first circus tent.'' McClung's engaging fictionalization is interesting as much for the Early American logistics of keeping an elephant as for the events, which are pleasantly enlivened by the presence of Hack's young nephew. Kelly achieves an appropriately old-time flavor with energetic illustrations whose cheerful characterizations and careful definition of forms recall the Petershams. (Young reader/Picture book. 5-10)

Pub Date: March 16, 1993

ISBN: 0-688-10642-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
LAST OF THE WILD
by Robert M. McClung & illustrated by Robert M. McClung & Bob Hines

- BOOK REVIEW
AMERICA'S FIRST ELEPHANT
by Robert M. McClung & illustrated by Marilyn Janovitz

bookshelf

DOLBY AND THE WOOF-OFF

by Barbara Steiner & illustrated by Eileen Christelow ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 1991

bookshelf

First-grader Bo Dibbs expects fame and fortune when he enters the family dog in the ``Woofies Dog Food'' contest. Dolby, as Bo explains to his class, is a natural winner: he's exceptionally intelligent and has a great woof. Emulating his determined older brother (see Oliver Dibbs to the Rescue!, 1985, etc.), Bo spends weeks training the huge, good-natured Dolby, whose talent reaches troublesome new heights when he learns to answer the telephone. The result is light, episodic fare with minimal characterization, somewhat stereotypical views on older sisters, and a nicely unexpected conclusion. (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 24, 1991

ISBN: 0-688-08435-4

Page Count: 117

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

bookshelf

A GUIDE DOG PUPPY GROWS UP

by Caroline Arnold & illustrated by Richard Hewett ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1991

bookshelf

Honey, an ingenuous-looking golden retriever bred in San Rafael, California, to be a Guide Dog for the Blind, spends her early months as a 4-H project for nine-year-old Amy, and then returns to Guide Dogs to complete her training and placement—in her case, with Sister Anne Gelles, a teacher. In vivid, appealing color photos and clear, well detailed text, an excellent presentation of a perennially interesting subject. (Nonfiction. 6-10)