Fizzlebert Stump lives in a circus that travels around the country. His mother is a clown and his father is a strong man. He gets taught his lessons by a variety of circus performers and has even put his head in a lion's mouth! However, life in the circus is very lonely when you're the only child and also when you're a book lover without many books. One day he meets some children and hopes they might become his friends, until they learn his name and find it hilarious. One of them happens to leave a library book behind and so one of Fizz's "teachers" recommends he returns it. So begins Fizz's adventure...
This book was lots of fun. Fizzlebert is a very likeable character who is perhaps a little naive having had his sheltered life in the circus. This is partially how he ends up on his adventure but you can't blame him for it. The author tries to engage with the reader through the use of the narrator and whilst this can be slightly irritating if you're a grown up trying to read the book all at once, it is great if you're younger or reading the book aloud. The tone of voice allows you to use great expression when reading aloud too. The illustrations (along with the story) remind me a little of Roald Dahl and it should appeal to his fans.
However, there was one thing that irritated me a bit about this book. Harrold uses far too many brackets! In fact, on page 128 you can find this: "awfully.)))" The author loves to go off on a slight tangent and whilst this can get irritating if you're trying to read the whole book in one go, it does give the book a bit of character and is quite fun in small doses.
Overall I give this book 6/10 :)
Title: Fizzlebert Stump: The Boy Who Ran Away From The Circus (and joined the Library)
Author: A.F. Harrold
Publisher: Bloomsbury
9-12 Fiction
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