The Palace of Laughter

Title: The Palace of Laughter
Author: Jon Berkeley
Series: The Wednesday Tales No. 1
Genre: Juvenile Fiction


Miles Wednesday is an orphan. He ran away from the orphanage and now lives in a barrel under a tree. On day a circus comes into town, and he speaks with a tiger. The next day he sneaks into the circus and learns there is no tiger at this circus. He does, however, meet Little. Little is a Song Angel who is being forced to work for the circus. Miles helps her escape and the two take off on an adventure to find the Palace of Laughter where Little's friend is.

The Palace of Laughter is part of the Julie Andrews Collection. Yes, the Julie Andrews we all know and love and not just someone with the same name :). The Julie Andrews Collection encompasses books for young readers of all ages taht nurture the imagination and celebrate a sense of wonder.

I am sad to say that I did not finish (DNF) this book. I tried, but even now when I'm 300 pages in, I don't want to invest the time and effort to read the last 100 pages to find out what happens to Miles and Little.

When I first started reading it I thought it seemed a little Harry Potteresque. Example: He's an orphan who lives in the barrel under the tree. It to me was very reminiscent of the cupboard under the stairs. Unfortunately, it's not good in the way that Harry Potter is. I think if I can't get through it and I can read most anything, then I wonder how any child is expected to read this book? I just felt it slow moving to the point where I didn't feel that the plot was moving along at all.

It has gotten 12 reviews and an average of 5 stars on Amazon, what am I missing? One reviewer remarked, "By the time I reached the gangs of children that reminded me of nothing so much as "The Warriors" meets "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", I was skeptical" This is where I've pretty much ended, perhaps I needed to read farther into it.

There are 2 more books currently in the series, The Tiger's Egg and The Lightening Key (both of which are on my bookshelf waiting). For me I think I'll stop here.