The Circus Ship

This poem-tale, inspired by a real-life incident, will have kids listening intently for the author's rollicking rhymes and fun wordplay and focusing on the plot: What will become of the 15 circus animals whose steamship to Boston is shipwrecked on an isle off the Maine coast? Andrew Watts uses his deep voice to enhance the author's rhyme scheme; lingering lightly over alliteration, he sketches the voices of worried crew members, surprised islanders, and the evil circus master. This fun production concludes with an author's note on the actual event that sparked this story: In 1836 a steamer traveling to Portland, Maine, with an entire circus aboard ran into a gale off the island of Vinalhaven. J.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

October 12, 2009
Mr. Paine, the greedy, mustachioed manager of a 19th-century circus, browbeats his ship's captain into sailing onward on a foggy night: "Don't stop! Keep going!/ I've got a show to do!/ Just get me down to Boston town/ tomorrow, sir, by two!" The ship crashes and sinks, but the animals swim to a small Maine island, where they confound the villagers until the tiger saves a girl from a fire. After that, the islanders help hide the animals when Mr. Paine returns for them. Van Dusen's (the Mercy Watson books) verse is tightly constructed, and his cartoonlike spreads are polished, literally and figuratively: the exaggerated chins and noses of the humans gleam, and sunsets and firelight illuminate the scenes dramatically. Other than Mr. Paine, readers don't get too close to any of the characters; the focus is on the action. The fantasy of African wildlife on a quiet Maine island will absorb a read-aloud audience, and a clever hide-and-seek page lets readers hunt for the animals, which are concealed from Mr. Paine. A final page supplies the story's (much sadder) historical source. Ages 4â8.