THE FLYING CIRCUS

An unusual circus comes to town.

Colorful bird feathers bearing tickets to the Flying Circus rain down on a village. A flock of birds descends from the sky with a striped circus tent. The townsfolk hand in their tickets and enter. After the lemur ringmaster tells a magical story, a series of images take shape. A swarm of buzzing bees appears, then turns into a waterfall. A forest grows; birds, animals, and fireflies emerge. The tent fills with water and sea creatures. A unicycle-riding, juggling bear dazzles the crowd. A whale leaps through the air; a tiger and other endangered or extinct creatures and plants materialize. Readers learn that the Flying Circus is actually “nature’s messenger asking for help on behalf of the trees, the animals, and every life form.” Departing audience members receive a “precious gift: a seed to plant in the hopes of transforming their wounded world.” The birds that delivered the tent prepare to carry it elsewhere and will leave seeds there, too, to remind successive audiences to cherish the earth. This odd, overlong story, originally published in Belgium and the Netherlands and translated from Dutch, offers a warning about protecting the planet—a laudable message. Unfortunately, the confusing, bizarre imagery and plodding text don’t convey that vital takeaway effectively; the connection between the circus acts and the conclusion feels unclear. Still, the lush illustrations have some appeal. Human characters are mostly light-skinned.

An earnest but perplexing tale about ecological preservation.