Mr Galliano's Circus is an adventure story for children. It has a slightly unlikely plot scenario at the beginning. Jimmy's Brown's father, a carpenter, is out of work. Jimmy - who, I suppose, is about ten - loves animals, and spends most of his after-school hours hanging out in a circus ground, helping where he can. When the odd-job man disappears, Jimmy's father is offered a week's work, and then invited with his family to join the circus full-time.

Most of the book is about life in the circus as the Browns settle in and make friends. I found myself sympathising rather more with Mrs Brown than I did as a child, having to struggle to cook and clean in a tiny caravan and deal with a life quite different from anything she had ever experienced before. Of course she copes magnificently, as the best of parents do in children's stories.

There are some positive moral lessons interwoven in the book - about being kind, and not letting obstacles get in the way, and so on. All good stuff, and in my view one of the better-written of Enid Blyton's books. There are two sequels in the same vein.

Latest full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2021/08/mr-gallianos-circus-by-enid-blyton.... ( )

This was one of my favourites as a child. My children love it too. Terribly dated though. The chimpanzee smoking a cigarette is the worst of it. ( )

Another EB book.