Dan Dinkum's Circus

Dan Dinkum's Circus was a book written in the late 1800's to the early 1900's by Lester Bidston, and though it was originally supposed to be a storybook for children, it can be enjoyed by all ages. Though the plotline and language may be fairly simple, it is still clear to any reader that the story is only meant to be to be an innocent tale of a mischievous boy and his adventures, rather than a tough read. It is a book that is very easy to read and very simple, but the story seems to contain little anecdotes of the main character, Dan Dinkum, and his struggles in life and his friends - each chapter had something new happening, so it was an exciting text to read.

The book was quite short, only one hundred and fifty one pages, each chapter being very short too, since there are twenty six chapters overall. The cover shows a drawing of Dan Dinkum with his dog, Bruiser, and his cat, Ugly. The story is a general, fun feeling tale of adventure, with the cliché of  "running away to join the circus" being brought to life. The story holds feelings of friendship and hardship, loss and triumph, fear and excitement - overall, a full spectrum of moods and themes, which personally, I think is necessary in any good book.

Concluding my review, I think Dan Dinkum's Circus was as thrilling as a book for children of the early 1900's could be, and though it was simple, it was a nice thing to read. It may not be what you'd bring to the table of a sophisticated book club, but neither would you read it to primary school children; well, you could read it to primary school children but I doubt they would appreciate it for the language used, the plotline or the character development, they would probably just be interested in the fact that it was storytime in class. It was interesting to hear the historical terminology, or use of words, like the old coins (sovereigns, sixpences, etc...) and the way the world used to work back then. As an example, Dan Dinkum didn't pay for a meal in a Chinese restaurant and so he was caught and made to wash dishes as a way of paying for his misdeed. It was overall fairly good, a calm read and a good story to pass on to other people. It could take up a lazy afternoon or two well, its a story that isn't too tiresome to read more than once.
- Zoe Lewis.