Reviews for The Circus Quest Series
Monsieur Charles’ Circus Quest, #1 The Playbill, #2 Magician’s Moustache, by Maureen Crisp, illustrated by Irina Burtseva
The first two books in Maureen Crisp’s Monsieur Charles’ Circus Quest will delight puzzle-loving 7-9-year-olds. Skye and Kestrel, two friends in a travelling circus community, are charged with solving a puzzle challenge that will determine the future of the circus and its performers, and solve a mystery about Kestrel’s missing mother along the way.
Crisp’s writing is full of show, not tell; great for making children think a little deeper about the book. Readers do need to be paying attention, as the solutions to each puzzle will not be handed to them on a platter, they’ll have to work at it a bit. There’s lots of detail about circus life and performances to intrigue readers, and some interesting character name choices (for example, the sons of the Falcon family are Peregrine and Kestrel).
Crisp’s writing is full of show, not tell; great for making children think a little deeper about the book.
The illustrations and overall book design are well done and will engage younger or less-confident readers who are not ready to transition to straight-text chapter books. At 78 pages each they won’t overwhelm a reader with their length, which is really important as children develop their confidence.
A new, fun series set in the lives of circus performers. Young readers will discover what goes on behind the scenes of all the acts. There are routines to be learnt, tricks to perfect, hard work to be done preparing the equipment and safety gear, not to mention the packing, erection and unpacking of the Big Top itself.
But there are devious people among them. Kes and Skye could be in real danger as they try to work out who is causing the circus’ troubles. Intriguing and exciting, drawing the reader from chapter to chapter; this will be a popular series for emerging readers.
The 2nd in this series, emerging readers can follow Kes and Skye’s quest and try to solve the clues themselves. Not only are there puzzles in the books, the back covers hold another.
Circus Quest Bk1: The Playbill by Maureen Crisp, illus. Irina Burtseva. Pub. Marmac Media, 2018.
This is the first of 10 books from the Circus Quest series for junior and newly confident readers. Each novel has a clue to solve which leads to the next one.
The Circus Charles will finish if they don’t complete a challenge and if they do complete the challenge they will join the top circus companies at the Circonvention.
Budding trapeze artist Skye and her brother Kestrel who is a clown are responsible for solving a series of clues that will give the circus a chance of survival. On top of that their mother is missing, their father is behaving mysteriously, and a series of accidents
suggests there is a traitor in their midst.
Firstly they have to solve the problem of where the clues are. See if they do.
Easy to read with big font, short chapters and only about 80 pages per book. A great way to get youngsters into reading.
Circus Quest Bk2: Magician’s Moustache.
The first venue of the Circus Charles tour is at the island town of Papenton, which is famous for it’s hundreds of clocks.
Skye and Kestrel after finding the key to the clues of the challenge to save the circus, deduce that the next clue is in a clock. But which one?
Already the traitor has sabotaged a rope to the big top and other accidents are about to happen. Who is masterminding these acts? There are some shifty characters involved.
Skye deduces the rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock is a clue and if you know the rhyme you the reader are half way there. Skye shows her trapeze skills to find the next clue which is a written code. I solved it but can you?
Another good thing about the series is that the characters are drawn at the front by illustrator Irina Burtseva who captures the characters, the circus and the action very well in black and white pen drawings.
A series to keep an eye on.
