Long Road to the Circus by Betsy Bird and David Small - ADVISABLE

 Long Road to the Circus by Betsy Bird, illustrated by David Small, 244 pages. Knopf (Random), 2021. $17

Content: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

12 yo Suzy Bowles is tired of her boring life on the farm. Every day is the same. Chores, Chores and more chores. She yearns for adventure and she wants to see the world. Her uncle moves in with them, supposedly to help with chores. Instead he leaves the farm really early every morning. One day Suzy decides to follow him. Come to find out, he works for the mystery lady in their town, Madame Maranette who used to work for the circus. Suzy want to work for Madame too, and talks her way into training the orneriest ostrich on the farm, Gaucho. Suzy has a lot to learn, but she is determined to learn to ride Gaucho. Suzy is a spunky, fun, hard-working girl ready for adventure and she refuses to give up.

I really enjoyed Suzy's story and learned a lot about ostriches. Suzy gets to know Madame, and learns some of her story. Madame gives her lessons on how a young lady should behave. I laughed out loud several places in the book. Suzy pulls on your heartstrings. I read the book in one sitting. The book is also full of delightful illustrations that are also full of expressions. I recommend reading this, even reading it out loud to your class or your children. Follow Suzy on her grand adventure and read on to the exciting conclusion.

Ellen-Anita - Librarian