Trouble Under the Big Top by J. Banscherus

Booktalk version: Klooz is a boy who solves mysteries, like Encyclopedia Brown. Pedro works in a circus and asks Klooz to investigate his sister, Vanessa, who usually is an excellent juggler but lately has been making mistakes. Klooz visits the circus to look for clues, follows someone secretly, and tries to discover the reason behind Vanessa's unusually clumsiness.

Full-length version: Still on the hunt for more mysteries, I read Trouble Under the Big Top, which has been translated into English. The main character is named Klooz and is a boy who solves mysteries, a la Encyclopedia Brown. The style of the books includes text and sketched pictures interspersed. The series is published in the U.S. by Stone Arch Books, publisher of some other popular lower-level chapter books, so I had high hopes.

The story is a typical mystery with clues for Klooz to investigate regarding a circus. Pedro is concerned about his sister, Vanessa, who is a perfect circus performer in rehearsal, but tosses a pin into the crowd every night when doing the family juggling act. Strangely enough, the pin is tossed back directly to her from the crowd and the act goes on as if it never happened. Pedro wants Klooz to find out what is wrong with her, as it could damage the family circus business.

The struggle I have with this book is that the language reads as if it was translated. The conversations and the sentence structure is awkward and simplistic. I would hesitate to give this to a beginning reader because of the awkwardness. There are other books at this level, 2nd to 3rd grade, which are more natural in writing and conversation style.

Examples:

Pedro came running up to us. He was still wearing makeup. Lines from his sweat had left little lines on his face. He looked a little like Count Dracula.

"Watch for everything," Pedro said. Everything? That knocked me right out of my shoes!

I will not be suggesting this to my teachers for literature circles, but I will put it in my library to see what students think of it. If they like Klooz I will purchase more in the series for the library.