The Midnight Circus. This item is unavailable.The Midnight Circus

A young boy's favorite mechanical horse comes to life and carries him to a circus for a night of adventure and stardom

Ages 4-7. Without words, Collington weaves an elaborate and dramatic story that will appeal to any child who revels in heroic dreams. A young boy loves the mechanical horse in front of the store next door to his home, and when the shopkeeper has it removed, the child cries himself to sleep. Even the child's wonderful picture book about a brave cowboy in the circus isn't enough to ease the hurt. But awakening in the night, the boy finds the horse again and travels with it to a magical nighttime circus. In grand, heroic tradition, he bests a great beast before returning home, fast asleep, astride the back of his trusty steed. The next day, he wakes up to discover that the mechanical horse that served him so well is back in front of the shopkeeper's door. The pleasantly predictable story is strengthened by artwork that is not a bit sentimental or sweet. The colored-pencil pictures, appearing in crystal clear sequence, vary in size from more than full-page to quite small. The boy's seesawing emotions are plainly rendered, and the exacting, fascinating details of the drawings will keep little lookers busy, but not to the extent that they'll ever lose track of the story. A wonderful excursion into a realm where fantasy and reality collide. Stephanie Zvirin