From Publishers Weekly
A boy's transition to a new neighborhood is eased by a somewhat arbitrary injection of fantasy in this uneven picture book. Timothy's lonesome, early-morning reverie is interrupted by "clanks and rumbles, a long hissss followed by a moment's silence." Still wearing his pajamas, he investigates, only to discover an old-fashioned circus train sitting on an abandoned track. The train has taken a wrong turn, the bridge ahead is out, and the engine can't back up. Timothy comes up with a solution: he puts the elephants to work inflating the cars like balloons, ties the whole shebang to Captain Von Boom and shoots him from his cannon, thus flying the train to its destination. "Timothy, you have saved the circus," announces Carrot Top, the clown/engineer, as Timothy rides an elephant into the ring at that evening's performance. An abrupt ending makes sense only with the assistance of the final endpapers (in which Carrot Top recruits a gaggle of children to play baseball at Timothy's house), and the fussy typeface may well distract readers. Smith's (illus. of Clay Boy) workmanlike prose boasts occasional lyrical passages ("the house creaking as the sun warmed its night-chilled boards"), but the story line feels more like an opportunity for circus illustrations than compelling in its own right. The art more skillfully integrates fantasy and reality, especially with its expansive use of intriguing perspectives and its gatefold view of the airborne circus train. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-Endpapers depicting an enormous vista of sky and plain with only a tiny farmhouse dotting the horizon introduce this story of a boy and his family who have just moved to a rural area. When Timothy's parents go into town to do some shopping, the child is left alone to wonder how he'll ever make any friends in this isolated place. Hearing a strange noise, he goes to investigate and finds a circus train marooned in a field on an unused track with a bridge out up ahead. As he walks from old-fashioned car to car, his amazement and delight grow. Finally, it's his quick thinking that saves the day and gets the train to town in time for the show. The rescue of the circus train is pure fantasy-the perfect daydream for a lonely and apprehensive child, for his astonishing deed is sure to make him a hero in his new town. Smith's watercolors are the stars of this imaginative book. Historic trains, full of whimsy and color, contrast with the empty plain and the animals and performers are drawn so persuasively that readers will want to savor the fun.-Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library,
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
