cover image Whompers and Whammies: The Great Circus War

Whompers and Whammies: The Great Circus War

Peter Stern. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, $15 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-688-10775-8

In this over-the-top, big-top version of Romeo and Juliet , Capulets and Montagues are replaced by Soaring Streebers and Flying Zelwins, the rivalrous trapeze artists of The Feeney Brothers' Colossal Spectacular. For years the Feeneys appease the troublesome troupers, giving them equal billing (Streeber comes first, but Zelwin is in bigger type), same-sized trailers and equal ring time. Then Oscar Zelwin accidentally causes Jacques Streeber to fall in the middle of a performance, and a full-scale feud erupts. The battle escalates until the fateful night in Minsk, many years later, when Tappy Zelwin coughs his glasses off and sees for the first time beautiful Bobo Streeter. (Fortunately, Stern's star-crossed lovers achieve a happy ending.) The zany, Jules Feiffer-type drawings pack enormous energy, but the text itself is flabby. The plot takes an inordinately long time to set up, and very little is made of the circus backdrop. For a story involving high wires, the voltage is surprisingly low. Ages 5-up. (May)