You Can't Believe Everything You Read! If You Ever Want to Bring A Circus to the Library, DON'T! by Elise Parsley

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING AT THE LIBRARY!

You can't believe everything you read, even a sign at the library.

But Magnolia is a girl with a thing for BIG IDEAS, and when she sees that summer reading festival sign, she suddenly sees herself as a circus impressario. Get ready, laddies and lassies, all you little library patrons. Cue the circus march! It's ...

MAGNOLIA'S CIRCUS--THE GREATEST SHOW YOU'VE NEVER SEEN!

Magnolia mounts the high wire for a twirl and a leap... and a fall....

The crowd gasps, but our Maggie bounces up, and with a wave of her hand, announces firmly...

You can do anything in the library--except CLAP!

Send in the CLOWNS! Magnolia takes a pie in the face with elan! But she shushes her audience.

You can do anything in the library--except CLAP and CHEER!

Some other traditional circus activities run into conflict with the library staff. Concessions, for example. The crowd is rowdy and especially messy with the popcorn and peanuts.

Magnolia tries to wow the crowd into silence with her piece de resistance--the human cannonball act!

The crowd waits, hushed, as the countdown continues: 5-4-3-2-1-??

Just so you know, if your cannon is a dud, you'll hear...

BOOOOOO!

By now, Magnolia's circus crowd is out of control. She quickly looks around for something to distract them before they riot!  She's pretty sure you can do anything in the library except clap, cheer, and RIOT!

She spots a booktruck nearby, loaded for shelving, and grabs a likely-looking book and...

Magnolia starts to read aloud.

The rapt kids are seemingly enchanted. Suspense builds as the three goats gruff, one by one, trip-trap across the bridge. Magnolia has the kids in the palm of her hand-- until there is a sudden misfire of her cannon....

BOOOOOMBA!

A misfiring cannon can make a mess of your neighborhood library, in Elise Parsley's latest in her Magnolia Says Don't series, If You Ever Want to Bring a Circus to the Library, Don't! (Little, Brown and Company, 2017).  Don't believe everything you read is Magnolia's new mantra, as she carefully crafts a new library poster--YOU CAN READ A NICE, QUIET BOOK IN THE LIBRARY.

Elise Parsley's third tall tale of what NOT to do takes advantage of her penchant for conceiving a character capable of instantly concocting capricious and absurd adventures, as she did in her top-selling If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't! and If You Ever Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don't! (see reviews here). Magnolia is a girl who apparently always learns the hard way, and Parsley's wild digital illustrations and near disasters scenes are kid-pleasing slapstick action and visual jokes. This one will be popular for Library Week readalouds.