Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Claude at the circus
Fiction Series
For ages 6 to 8
Peachtree Publishers, 2012 ISBN: 978-1561457021
Claude is a small, rather plump dog who lives in a house at 112 Waggy Avenue. Claude lives with his best friend, Sir Bobblysock, who (not surprisingly) is a sock who is bobbly, and he also lives with Mr. and Mrs. Shineyshoes.
One sunny Saturday morning Mr. and Mrs. Shineyshoes decide to go off into the countryside for the day and they leave Claude, who is fast asleep in his bed, at home. Or at least he seems to be fast asleep. As soon as his people have left the house, Claude hops out of bed, put on his beret, and he sets off for the park. He worked hard cleaning out his bed the day before and he feels that he deserves “a treat.”
Soon after he arrives at the park Claude encounters a bizarre group of people who are wearing strange looking clothes and running. Before he can get out of the way Claude finds himself running along with them. He rather likes the running part of things but he does want to know why the people were running, and he does wonder if the people know that they are not wearing “proper clothes.”
When Claude and Sir Bobblysock end up in a flower bed by accident they are rather relieved and decide to have a nap. They are quiet tired after all that running about. Unfortunately, they don’t get to have a proper nap because a park keeper comes along and points out that sleeping in the flower beds is not allowed.
After upsetting a bunch of people when he crosses a green grassy place - where there are little white balls lying around and where there are strange little holes in the ground - Claude finally reaches his objective: an ice cream van. Now he and Sir Bobblysock can relax and enjoy themselves. Or maybe not.
Claude is one of those characters who cannot seem to help having adventures wherever he goes. In this book readers will find themselves in the middle of several adventures with Claude, and they won’t know what is going to happen next. Grab a beret, put it on nice and tight, and enjoy the ride because Claude is on the loose.
