Anyone who has ever wanted to be recognized for their own special talent will certainly identify with Serafleana. From the time she was just a tiny egg, she has always been a jumper. She dreams of her own act in the Fleatastics Circus, but her family wants her to be part of an acrobatic pyramid instead. On the night of their first performance, disaster strikes! A child in the audience asks for a "Treat" and that word wakes the sleeping dog they are performing on. At last Serafleana can use her talent in a way that everyone approves of - to distract the dog while performers and audience all scurry to safety.
Young readers may not have heard of a flea circus, but adults who are reading along will certainly be amused at the idea of a big top pitched on a sleeping dog. The illustrations show performers balancing on top of rolling balls, twirling hoops on all six legs, or swinging on the trapeze. And mixed in with the action there are tiny speech bubbles that help make each flea unique. One wants to tell jokes all the time. Another has allergies and believes she needs to relocate to a hypoallergenic dog. Still another quotes random facts. Yet they all manage to work together to form the pyramid, even if Serafleana's brothers do have to hold onto her to keep her in position. When she finally gets to jump, what a jump it is!
Great for one-on-one laptime or bedtime reading, so the tiny speech bubbles can be explored and discussed. It could work as a read-aloud, but it would take plenty of extra time to read all the little extra bits and point out who was saying what.
I received a review copy from the publisher.
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