Horn Book Review
This concept book takes pre-readers under the big top to introduce opposites via cleverly designed lift-the-flaps. Three identical clowns illustrate same until a flap pies one in the face to reveal different; few acrobats become many after an accordion gatefold. The illustrations are spare but graphically sharp; for a movable book, this one is fairly sturdy, with heavy board pages and cardstock-weight flaps. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hinged flaps and other devices allow a bevy of circus performers to demonstrate opposites.An unmitigated flop from beginning to end, this uninspired show invites readers beneath the big top to see one windup bird and a white-skinned human caststereotypically similar-looking men with bristling facial hair and a sad-faced woman who performs twice with her eyes closedunexcitingly go from "Here" to "There, "Down" to "Up," or (arbitrarily abandoning the general premise) "Wet" to "Dry" beneath a shower of rain. A die-cut daisy chain intended to transform a "Few" acrobats into "Many" when flipped is a paper-engineering fail, as all of the figures are plainly visible even when the flap is closed, and instead of going from "Low" to "High" when her accordion-folded platform is extended upward, a juggler confusingly starts "Short" and ends up "Tall." At the close the ringmaster takes a "Quiet" bow, then bellows "I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW!" Unlikely.More like the Greatest Snooze on Earth, particularly next to Suse MacDonald's effervescent Circus Opposites (2010) (Novelty. 3-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
