The Circus BabyCopyright 1950, reprinted 1989
A Picture Book by Maud and Miska Petersham
Mother Elephant and her baby live with the circus. Mother Elephant is justifiably proud of her little elephant. He tries hard to please her, but after all he's only a little fellow. They are good friends with all the circus people, especially Zombie the Clown and his family. Mother Elephant likes to poke her rather large head in their tent and see what they're doing.
One day she sees the baby clown, "with a pretty bib" sitting in his high chair, having his dinner. Mother Elephant decides her baby must learn to eat properly,"just as the circus people did."
What ensues is worthy of a circus act itself! Mother Elephant' s attempts to feed her baby in the high chair don't go quite as planned. After a hilariously failed attempt to civilize baby elephant, the clown family sees their tent mysteriously walking away!
Moral? Just be yourself. Otherwise you're sure to hit disaster--
and make yourself a laughingstock of the whole circus.The colorful illustrations, drawn in circus-y red, yellow, and black,
incorporate stylized traditional circus motifs,
yet capture the emotions of the elephants beautifully.
Our copy has the cover taped back on but otherwise
managed to last through five kids! I mean owlets!
Out-of-print but still easily available on Amazon from 1¢!
(Unread copies going for $139.18-$197.79!)
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