The Circus Ship

Highly Recommended! My 3 year old LOVES this book!

We bought this book for my son when he was 3, he's now 4 and he still loves this book! It's a rhyming book with an entertaining story and great pictures. My son loves this one page where you have to find the circus animals. We've bought this book for his friends, too.

Wonderfully detailed illustrations & a neat story add up to a book that's great for family time.

Jaunty rhymes take us through the story of fifteen circus animals who were abandoned by Mr. Paine, the circus owner, during the sinking of their ship. They swim through the night and finally make it to an island just before dawn. The exhausted animals wandered throughout the village looking for a place to rest (or some daisies to munch on). Unfortunately the poor villagers didn't know what to make of the tiger in the tulips, the python in the pantry, or the monkey swinging from the laundry line. People are upset with the animals, but this all changes when a shed catches fire with a child inside. The tiger saw the smoke and fire and it "triggered something in his head". He jumped into the burning shed and came back out with little Emma Rose. The townspeople now viewed the animals in a different light and the former circus animals became a part of the village. And just when it seems that nothing could possibly go wrong, they hear that Mr. Paine has learned that the animals survived and he's coming to take them back! Well, neither the villagers nor their new residents were going to take this lying down, so they hatched a plan. When the blowhard Mr. Paine comes striding into the village demanding his animals back, he runs into a slight problem. He can't seem to find his missing fifteen animals. There's a great double spread illustration that has all fifteen animals hiding in plain sight. My students had a fun trying to find them all (the cheetah and the alligator were the hardest!). Paine tears through the town looking for his performers but has to give up when his boat takes off without him. The brightly colored illustrations are so wonderfully detailed. This is a great book to look at on your own in order to find all the animals and little surprises Van Dusen has sprinkled throughout. While some might worry that The Circus Ship might be a little too dark for younger children, I read it to my 5 and 6 year-olds and they absolutely loved it. Mr. Paine is easily identified as the bad guy and the animals all get a happily ever after. There is an author's note at the back of the book telling of the story of the Royal Tar, the circus ship that inspired the book but had a much sadder ending. I also shared this information with my students, acknowledged it was sad, but that the author had made a story where all of the animals get a happy ending. Kids were dragging their parents in after school to checkout the book.

Love It

I have a 3 year old daughter and she requests that both her father and I both read this story to her EVERY night. It's a fun story and easy to read. She also loves looking for all the animals when they're hiding on the island. All in all a GREAT book. I definitely recommend it to anyone who reads to their children.

Circus Ship is PICTURE BOOK PERFECTION!

I have been reading picture books to my kids for over 16 years and professionally for almost as long and I can tell you with certainty that it is VERY difficult to write a story that rhymes and rhymes WELL. Van Dusen has done just this. His story is full of alliteration, internal rhymes and an overall great sound. I can read this book out loud and not even look at the text most of the time, the rhymes are so perfect! But that is only half of the brilliance of this book!!! Van Dusen's illustrations are INCREDIBLE!!! There is a two page spread that comes near the end of the book that always has my litter listeners getting as close to the book as possible - there are 15 circus animals hidden amongst a normal "main street" scene and the kids NEVER get tired of spotting them. I can read this book over and over quite happily! It makes a beautiful gift!

colorful in script and illustration

I have a girl of seven and a boy of eight and both loved it. The pictures are bright and funny and capture the children's imagination. The story has a flowing rhythm and rhyme that the children follow along with. When you want to encourage children to look at books and to start reading on their own this one is a winner.

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