Louise Trapeze Can SO Save the Day

July 15, 2016
The Sweet Potato Circus may be in trouble, and Louise must pull out all the stops in order to save it.First, Ringmaster Riley gets angry over a malfunctioning cotton-candy machine that is puffing sugary sweetness out of control. Then Louise overhears two circus performers having a whispery conversation about "audience" and "sales down," and "save it for this...performance." None of that can be any good! Her mom tries to reassure her, but Louise knows a very important fact: "Sometimes grown-ups do not want kids to know their worry-ish thoughts. They like to pretend everything is fine-fine-fine." Times are so desperate that Louise gets help from not only her best friend, Stella, but also their sworn enemy, "ferret-breath" Fernando. The three youngsters must come up with a "eureka!-amazing" new act to attract more audience members and save the show. As in previous Louise Trapeze outings, Louise's overzealous attitude is infectious, but it gets her in a spot of trouble. Lessons on misinterpretation, eavesdropping, and not jumping to conclusions are all learned. Blue tones accent Barrager's sketch illustrations this time; though there's no indication about racial diversity in the book's interior, the cover reveals Stella to be brown-skinned and Louise to be white. A determined gal with a whole lot of heart, Louise will have fans hoping for a fourth outing. (Fiction. 6-9)

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July 1, 2016
Grades 1-4 Uh-oh! The Sweet Potato Traveling Circus is in trouble! On her way to return Oona the juggling chicken to the coop, Louise overhears adults whispering about a drop in ticket sales. After a day of hand-wringing anxiousness, Louise has a eureka! idea: she will put together a dynamite act to draw a crowd and save the circus from closing. With the help of BFF Stella, Clementine the elephant, and archenemy Fernando, Louise gets to work. This third entry in the Louise Trapeze early chapter-book series offers readers laughs, a gentle lesson on eavesdropping and assumptions, exploding cotton candy, and a daring surprise. Aqua-infused drawings and highlighted vocabulary (engagingly defined by Louise) will give new readers an assist as they witness another entertaining performance by the intrepid seven-year-old.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)