Maria Looney and the Cosmic Circus

Matthew and Maria Looney #6

by Jerome Beatty Jr., Gahan Wilson (Illustrator)

The arrival of Bill Bailey's circus on the moon means trouble for Maria Looney, especially when it becomes apparent that someone is trying to steal the top-secret designs of the Moon's L-Bomb.

Genres: Childrens

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

About the author

Jerome M. Beatty Jr. (December 9, 1916 — July 31, 2002) was a 20th-century American author of children's literature. He was also an accomplished feature writer for magazines. Beatty served in the United States Army, achieving the rank of corporal, and is buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maria Looney is a moonster: she lives on the moon with her family. When a circus troop comes from Earth she makes friends with the performers and convinces the moonsters that this is an entertainment and not an invasion force.

I had read Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth and Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth as a child, so it was fun to read about his sister Maria. However, I was disappointed that some of the "science" was no longer part of the book. This had trapeze artists and a clown being shot out of a cannon without taking the difference in gravity into account. (In the first book Maria had to carry a bowling ball in order not to fly off the ground because she was small enough that her weight wouldn't hold her down.)