In their trademark style, author Kate Klise and illustrator M. Sarah Klise blend a story bursting with jokes, puns, and wordplay with illustrations, signs, letters, recipes, and bold graphics to introduce Three-Ring Rascals.
When Sir Sidney, a kindly old circus owner, becomes too tired to travel with his show, he places a Help Wanted ad in the newspaper. Enter Barnabas Brambles: “I have a degree in lion taming from the University of Piccadilly Circus.” But does Leo the lion need taming? Will Elsa the elephant still get her gourmet peanuts? And what will Brambles say when he discovers Bert and Gert―two mice who travel with the circus on popcorn cleanup patrol?
Brambles has big plans: More cities! More shows! No more free popcorn. Soon he’s made a big mess of Sir Sidney’s Circus, but Leo, Elsa, Bert, Gert, and the rest of the performers agree: The Show Must Go On!
Black and white line drawings throughout.
- Used Book in Good Condition
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Really enjoyable story!
By Alice Berger
Sir Sidney runs the best circus around. He's kind to his animals and performers, and kids see the circus and eat popcorn for free. But Sir Sidney is getting older, and decides to hire a manager to help him. Barnabas Brambles, certified lion tamer, eagerly applies for the job and is hired. But Barnabas has very different ideas about how to run a circus.Leo, the old lion, must be replaced with a cool tiger. Elsa, the elephant, should be sent to the zoo. And the Flying Banana Brothers' skills will be used to drive the circus train. Who needs vermin like Gert and Bert, the mice, and Old Coal, the crow, who are in charge of popcorn cleanup after the circus? Ticket prices must be raised, and more shows added to the schedule! Barnabas wants to make as much money as he can, and he doesn't care who gets hurt in the process. But running Sir Sidney's circus doesn't turn out to be quite as easy (or lucrative) as he expects.Sir Sidney is a smart man, and he sees through Barnabas Brambles' shiny exterior to the man beneath the ill-fitting suit. His response upon finally seeing what Barnabas has done to his circus is both remarkable and unexpected. The Show Must Go On! is a great story filled with wonderful illustrations, side conversations, jokes and humor that make it a really enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.Reviewer: Alice Berger
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Keep This Show Going
By Pop Bop
This is the first book in the "Three-Ring Rascals" series, which follows the antics of Sir Sidney's Circus, the best circus in the world.MILD SPOILER: In this first volume, "The Show Must Go On! (Three-Ring Rascals)", Sir Sidney hires Barnabas Brambles to work as the manager of the circus. Barnabas turns out to be greedy and nasty, and has been referred to in every succeeding book as having once been the meanest man in the world. Nevertheless Sir Sidney doesn't give up on Barnabas and works to help Barnabas improve himself. Many have commented on the themes of kindness, generosity, second chances, and forgiveness that shine through in book one.The second volume involves a competition among the circus performers to see who is the "star" of the circus, and ends up as a tale of cooperation, teamwork and family solidarity. Barnabas does some backsliding in Sir Sidney's absence, and so the performers, especially Bert and Gert, the circus mice, have to remind him about a few golden rules. The performers ruin their acts by trying to hog the spotlight, so teamwork and cooperation also figure heavily. The performers are presented as normal and decent characters who occasionally mess up, are forgiven, and try to do better. The books aren't terribly heavy-handed about any of this;So, these aren't just "message" books, although they aren't shy about making points about kindness, patience, and cooperation. They are gentle, forgiving and upbeat. They are also funny, silly, charming, colorful and energetic books with wacky characters and situations, that just happen to include a positive sub-text, so don't worry that these will be all preachy finger wagging. While the positive lessons are there, they are seamlessly blended in with wisecracks, jokes, silly banter, wisecracking mice and a lot of sight gags. There are a lot of jokes slipped in to the abundant illustrations, and some of the asides from the mice in the margins have a bit of snap to them.This is a great book as a read-to or a read with, or as a first book for an early reader. Laughs and some sly wit keep it interesting for Mom or Dad. And the whole enterprise is colorful and upbeat. A nice find.Please note that I purchased this. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of the book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.PERFECT!
By birdonthelawn
It's been about a year of reading more advanced graphic novels and the sparely illustrated junior fiction of Roald Dahl to my 5 and 4 year old. We love illustrated children's books but I wanted to challenge them a bit and this is a great introduction as a chapter book. This book held it's own in fun and education with all of the bests we've read in that time.With the sweet illustrations, I turned each page delighted that it just kept getting better and better. Geography, magic, and the entertainment of the circus world made it a page-turner. So many fun word-plays, so many great jokes and use of advanced vocabulary. I loved reading it to them!Regarding deeper meaning the Klise sisters took on a complicated subject. We often speak of the competing powers of dark and light and how they exist in all people. The kind and forgiving Sir Sidney was brilliant.
