Customer Reviews

The Floating Circus

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I recently borrowed this book from the Library. The story is very fast paced and even at the end of the book I found myself wanting more. The books main character is 13 year old Owen Burke. Owen and his 8 year old brother Zach live at an Orphanage because their mother could not afford to feed them after their Pa died. The brothers go on the Orphanage train in hopes that they might get adopted. Feeling that no would adopt him and that Zach wouldn't go with out him Owen decides to jump off the train shortly before it really takes off. Owen then ends up passing The Floating Circus having no money an old free black man decides to give him a sneak peek. Owen ends up working for the man as his assistant. The story deals with Owen finding his own way in the world, dealing with the loss of his family, wondering how his brother is, as well as learning new things making friends both big and small.

This is a book that children of all ages will enjoy and quickly read. Adults who like the circus or just reminisce about it from when they were a kid will probably like the book as well.

This good old-fashioned adventure novel will appeal equally to boys and girls as well as to circus fans of all ages. Readers will instantly empathize with the plight of twelve-year-old orphan Owen as he learns the ropes of life aboard The River Palace. The vivid cast of characters includes an escaped slave, Siamese twins, and a misunderstood elephant named Little Bet. Amazing! Spectacular! Un-put-downable!

Twelve-year-old troublemaker Owen is so different from his little brother, Zach, that he knows Zach would stand a much greater chance of being adopted from the Orphan Train without him. When the train leaves Pittsburgh, Owen slips away and jumps, leaving his future to the winds.

Before the night is over, he finds himself invited aboard a circus boat by a kindly black man named Solomon...and nearly drowned in the river when the circus owner discovers Owen catching a show for free. Solomon convinces Hathaway, the owner, to let Owen stay aboard as Solomon's assistant in tending the animals and cleaning the boat. Thus, Owen becomes a hired hand on the River Palace.

Life in the circus isn't quite what Owen would have thought it would be, but it grows to become more of a home to him than the orphanage had ever been. From the misunderstood baby elephant, Little Bet, to Caleb, another boy on the boat who reminds him so much of Zach, Owen manages to find a place within his newfound family. But as the circus heads south towards New Orleans--a town plagued with yellow fever, bad storms, and people who think every black man is as good as a slave--Owen will need to decide where his heart and loyalties lie, and choose the road his life will travel.

Full of rich description in an exciting atmosphere and turbulent time in American history, Zimmer brings out a complete cast of very real characters and heart-wrenching situations. THE FLOATING CIRCUS is a masterful work to be enjoyed by anyone between the ages of 8 and 80.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

This quick-paced picaresque was fun to read but the plot relied heavily on the hero's good fortune to have random strangers decide to grant him unaccountable favors. For example, the character of Solomon, a former slave, helps Owen get a job at the circus after he stows away, despite the fact that Owen is temporarily disabled and just before Solomon disdainfully shoos off groups of other, presumably able-bodied, nonpaying children. The portrayal of Solomon is a weakness -- more of an archetype than a fully formed character.