If I Ran the Circus

This fanciful romp through a young boy's imagination was dedicated to Dr. Seuss's father, "Big Ted of Springfield, the finest man I'll ever know".

There is a vacant lot behind Sneelock's store. What a waste! Young Morris McGurk has a use for it, though... in his mind it is the perfect venue for "Circus McGurkus"! But this is no ordinary circus with lions and clowns and boring things like that. No, in Circus McGurkus there are amazing, fantastical creatures everywhere!

To open, the crowd will be greeted on opening night by "the horn-tooting apes from the Jungles of Jorn." One creature gets to use his belly as a kettle drum... don't worry, though, it "doesn't hurt him a bit cause his drum-tummy's numb!"

But best of all, sleepy Mr. Sneelock is apparently hiding all sorts of marvelous talents. He lets a blindfolded man use an arrow to shoot an apple off of his head... he's a drum major who can "fling-flang his baton".... and by the end he's a daredevil who flies (carried by birds) over a mile up before diving down into a tiny goldfish bowl... "and while people below are all turning chalk white... Great Sneelock soars up to a terrible height!"

Will Morris make his circus dreams come true? Does poor Mr. Sneelock know what Morris has in store for him? And does he survive the dive into the goldfish bowl?