Circus of Thieves and the Raffle of Doom

Firstly; what a fantastic name (and idea!) for a book! I've not read any books like it, especially not ones that combine circus and civilians so easily! Within the first few pages, I'd realised this was a book that wants the reader to laugh. Although this was endearing at first, it wore thin. Many of the pages have witty footnotes for the reader or super long explanations to labour a point and I found that this became 'old' after a while. It just felt like it was trying too hard! Despite this, this book has a very simple, yet enjoyable, plot line. The plot is dressed up by fancily named characters and escapades. It has a fantastic range of different words to introduce to children's vocabulary, and includes lots of puns/discussions about words -this perhaps making it less accessible for lower readers, but entertaining for older primary age children. I found this book ok, but the 'funny' parts started to irritate me a little! I do fear this is my sceptical, grown-up side pushing through and that most children may enjoy this, I can certainly think of a few quick witted 10-year-olds at our school that may... The issue is that this style of writing doesn't feel original, and I'm not sure it's executed well enough to be successful. It sometimes is feels forced. I'm sad that I haven't enjoyed this book; I've not come across the author before but I have got his sequel ready to read.... and I am intrigued to find out what happens to the characters but I hope that this tries to make me laugh a little less!

Suggested Reading Age 9+