The Mysterious Circus

Hall Family Chronicles #7

by Jane Langton

Life in the Halls' house in Concord is many things, but it is never boring. Even something as simple as having a family friend come for a visit can lead to the unexpected, the enchanted, the mysterious -- in this case, the most amazing, most mysterious circus ever. From Uncle Krishna's garbled phone message to the fantastic ending, the latest Hall Family Chronicle has all of the earmarks of a Jane Langton fantasy, humor, and magic! Join Eleanor, Eddie, Georgie, their new friend Andy, and his twelve very large friends -- more about them later -- in Jane Langton's The Mysterious Circus .

Genres: Fantasy, Chapter Books, Childrens, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2005

About the author

Langton was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied astronomy at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1944. She received an M.A. in art history from the University of Michigan in 1945, and another M.A. from Radcliffe College in 1948. She studied at the Boston Museum School from 1958 to 1959.

In 1961 Langton wrote and illustrated her first book for children, The Majesty of Grace, a story about a young girl during the Depression who is certain she will some day be Queen of England. Langton has since written a children's series, The Hall Family Chronicles, and the Homer Kelly murder mystery novels. She has also written several stand-alone novels and picture books.

Langton's novel The Fledgling is a Newbery Honor book. Her novel Emily Dickinson is Dead was nominated for an Edgar Award and received a Nero Award. The Face on the Wall was an editors' choice selection by The Drood Review of Mystery for 1998.

Langton lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts, near the town of Concord, the setting of many of her novels. Her husband, Bill, died in 1997. Langton has three adult sons: Chris, David and Andy.

Series:
* Hall Family
* Homer Kelly Mystery

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm honestly confused by what's going on with this book.

The Diamond in the Window is a rare and brilliant children's book. (pause while I check which Newbery committee neglected it... The Bronze Bow? really?) The next three are almost as good. With The Fragile Flag she sort of jumped into a new generation, and there are some issues with that book, but I love it dearly. Then The Time Bike came out and I was so annoyed with it that I haven't reread in an effort to forget it--so I don't really remember my exact issues with it, except that the author contradicted some stuff from earlier books.

I think I might have liked this book if I hadn't read the preceding ones, though I don't think I would have loved it. But most of the characters read nothing like they did originally; the ones that do do it pretty superficially (i.e. Frieda); and all the philosophical stuff is dumbed down. If we didn't need an explanation of "Old shoes will serve a hero" in the first book, why would we need one now? Prince Krishna, in particular, is just not the same character--the Krishna I remember is clever, with a sense of humor, not fawning and ineffectual.

Also annoyed by some admittedly minor errors, like how baby Carrington has aged, but his big sister Cissie hasn't. Poor authors--it must be hard to have nitpicky readers who know your books so well.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good story, not great, but a good, solid read. Mix an eccentric family, a little magic, an evil plot, plus Henry David Thoreau and you get a fun read about the Hall family who live in Thoreau’s childhood home.

It begins with the patriarch, Uncle Freddy, getting a call from a relative in India who, over a bad phone connection, tells him he is sending someone called Amanda, who may or may not be trouble. Simultaneously, Matilda McIntosh promises her cousin on his deathbed that she will get even with the Hall family. The fun begins when the guest from India’s gift to Georgie brings some even bigger surprises for everyone involved.

The only downside is that Langton throws so many characters at you from the town that you tend to get them confused.

One books that make up the Hall Family Chronicles. It is a story with fantasy, magic, and humor that is fun for the fourth grader on up.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read all of Jane Langton's Hall Family Chronicles that had been released when I was a kid, but sometimes I forget to GOOGLE authors I loved to find out if they wrote more - and Jane Langton HAD. I had only ever read Swing in the Summerhouse (PERFECT book), Diamond in the Window (which my sister and I found only AFTER reading SitS and made SitS make MUCH more sense), The Fledgling, The Astonishing Stereoscope, and the Fragile Flag. It's nice to have new-to-me books by her. I didn't ADORE this one in the same way as the others - it felt less about the PEOPLE and more about the ADVENTURES - but it was as richly detailed and fun a read as the other ones.

[eRin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the circus connection, but I didn't realize that it was part of a series. Therefore, most of the book I was a little confused. Even if I had known the back stories, I don't think that my opinion would be much changed because the book seemed fragmented and hastily thrown together. I wouldn't recommend this.

[Rhiannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of kids help their own and embark on many adventures.

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Grillables · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps I've just outgrown these? I remember quite liking the early books in this series, but this one was too simplistic and seemed thrown together haphazardly.

[Yoori · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's truly boring!