The Farmer and the Circus

by Marla Frazee, Marla Frazee (Illustrator)

Overview

The farmer follows his new friends to the circus in this whimsical and touching conclusion to the trilogy from two-time Caldecott Honor medalist Marla Frazee that began with the beloved The Farmer and the Clown.

The little clown and monkey miss their friend the farmer. They spend their days playing farmer together, until one day they get a surprise. Farmer has come to visit the circus! What will happen when he meets the rest of the circus family?

Sweet, humorous, and full of emotion, this third and final book in Marla Frazee’s stunning trilogy is sure to become a classic favorite for young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781534446212
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Series:	The Farmer Books
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	676,709
Product dimensions:	10.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Marla Frazee is the recipient of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Picture Book and a three-time Caldecott Honor winner. She has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, as well as her own Farmer Books trilogy, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and The Boss Baby, which inspired the DreamWorks Animation film. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Clementine chapter books by Sara Pennypacker. The mother of three grown sons, she lives in Pasadena, California. Visit her at MarlaFrazee.com.

Marla Frazee is the recipient of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Picture Book and a three-time Caldecott Honor winner. She has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, as well as her own Farmer Books trilogy, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and The Boss Baby, which inspired the DreamWorks Animation film. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Clementine chapter books by Sara Pennypacker. The mother of three grown sons, she lives in Pasadena, California. Visit her at MarlaFrazee.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/08/2021

The final installment of Caldecott Honoree Frazee’s Farmer trilogy opens with a theatrical flourish as the young clown who starred in the first story returns to the circus; wearing the farmer’s oversize hat, the child rejects the clown costume for a pair of black overalls that mimic the farmer’s. (The other clowns, including one who seems to be the child’s caretaker, look on in amusement.) Along with the circus monkey centered in the second story, the overall-clad child spends the day playing farmer—raking, juggling eggs, and experimentally milking the circus elephant. When the circus opens the next day, who should turn up but the beloved farmer? The young clown and monkey can barely contain their excitement, and as they launch into a performance, the farmer becomes acquainted with the older parental clown. The farmer’s visits become a regular event as Frazee gives the quartet many chances to share their pleasure in being together. As before, Frazee devotes particular attention to the distinctive ways the characters respond to each other and to their expressions of affection, in this celebration of two disparate lifestyles resolving into a single new one. Ages 4–8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-03-02
Frazee’s third installment in her wordless picture-book series is a family affair.

Frazee uses the frontmatter to begin her tale as, on the title page, the clown child who met the farmer in the trilogy’s first installment is shown rejecting a motherly clown’s offering of a clown suit. Instead, the child chooses the farmerlike outfit donned in Book 1 and is wearing it when the monkey protagonist of Book 2 reappears with items from the farmer’s abode. It’s a happy reunion of monkey and child, whose play evokes their times on the farm. Their joy is eclipsed only by the eventual appearance of the doting farmer, who comes to the circus after the little clown’s community of performers raises the big top on the prairie. The real drama takes place outside the tent, however, when romance blooms between the farmer and the clown’s mother as they bond over juggling, music, dancing, and pie. At the book’s end, the foursome leaves the circus and heads home to the farmer’s house, which Frazee depicts bathed in a rosy sunset, the landscape embellished with flowers. It’s a happily-ever-after sort of ending, though some readers may be weary of depictions of monkeys as quasi-children, and others may wonder why the farmer didn’t join the circus instead of relocating everyone to his home. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.3-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 19.3% of actual size.)

The circus train stops here after a good run. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews