Backyard Circus
by Jill Bryant
illustrated by Stephen MacEachern
How to stage your very own circus.
Step right up to the most amazing show on earth... yours. Backyard Circus shows kids how to host their own big top performance with a little imagination and a whole lot of fun.
Cheerful instructions and dynamic illustrations take young readers through everything step by step: from gathering talent (do you call every kid on the block or just use stuffed toys?), to creating costumes (baggy pajamas are a hoot -- or how about dad's old neckties?), to organizing acts that astound and entertain. Kids will have a ball discovering there's no biz like showbiz.
Other show-stopping features include:
- Tips on clowning
- Simple magic tricks
- Safe acrobatics
- Instructions for juggling
- Circus lingo
- How to make stilts
- Creating your own megaphone.
Sprinkled with groaner jokes for clowning around and packed with circus-lore sidebars for enquiring ringmasters, Backyard Circus is any kid's guide to joining the circus without ever running away.
close this panelJill Bryant is the award-winning author of several books for children, including Making Shadow Puppets and Amazing Women Athletes. She learned to unicycle while putting on her own backyard circus when she was nine.
close this panelCheerful instructions and dynamic illustrations take young readers through everything step by step.
A dynamic guide to creating a circus in your backyard. In humorous prose, she teaches kids to clown, juggle, tumble, mime, and stage-manage... The book is bursting with good ideas.
Readable, enjoyable, practical and informative, Backyard Circus is an excellent classroom resource and reading book... Highly Recommended.
