The Circus Scare

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #7

by Carolyn Keene, Macky Pamintuan (Illustrator)

Come one,
come all!


The circus is coming to River Heights! The flyers claim this circus will be the biggest and best show around, with the funniest clowns, the cutest animals, and the most daring acrobats. Nancy and the Clue Crew can't wait to see it! But when the performers are forced to go on without some very important props, Nancy begins to wonder, Is someone clowning around with this circus? She's not sure, but one thing is certain -- what Nancy and the Clue Crew discover proves that the circus really is the greatest show on Earth!

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Middle Grade, Detective, Fiction, Chapter Books, Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and fun.

[eRin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy Drew is in the third grade and she and her two best friends, Bess and George, make up the famous Clue Crew. The Clue Crew solves mysteries all over River Heights. It's an exciting time because the circus is coming to town and the girls plan to go to all of the performances. But at each performance they realize that more and more of the costumes are missing. Someone is stealing the costumes and the performers are angry. Sounds like a job for the Clue Crew!

This was cute. It was the first Clue Crew book I've read--Nancy Drew for easy readers. It still can't compare to my beloved regular Nancy Drew books, but it's not a bad spin off. There was even a fun little activity at the end.

[Rachel Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm just old and cynical, but none of the new Nancy Drew books I've ever read come anywhere close to the older ones. This volume involves "The Clue Crew" solving the mystery of items being stolen from a circus, which is an inane premise for them to be involved when they have nothing to do with it anyway, but even the way they went about it was just ridiculous to me. I get it, the girls are 8 years old in this book, so it's supposed to be a little primer of detective work before the heavy lifting of the more famous version of this series. But it was just bad. Also, Nancy, George and Bess straight-up bullied and made fun of Deirdre the entire book which seemed very out of character for who Nancy always used to be toward her fellow community members, especially her classmates.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked this book but it was the most obvious of the mysteries so far. In this one, there is a circus coming to town and Deirdre decides she's going to have her own back yard circus too. In the big circus, things start going missing. The clowns don't have noses, the elephant riders don't have headdresses, etc. Of course Deirdre is a suspect as well as the ringmaster's son. He doesn't like being on the road and may be sabotaging the circus to end it so he can stay in one place. Like I said, its really predictable, but cute enough and quick enough.

[Kara Kuehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a cute story!

Things to be aware of in “The Circus Scare”

Romantic Content:
- When talking about a boy, this is said, “‘He’s kind of cute,’ Kendra said. ‘His hair is almost as pretty as mine.’” I didn’t love that comment.

Additional Notes:
- The girls (Nancy, Bess and George) trespass into a neighbor’s yard.

[EOG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally, I finished this book.😅 It was a little bit slow in some first chapters but was good and kind of funny.

P.D. the antagonist pretends she's the cooler and the top diva but she doesn't have the profile and always wears sandals. I mean, really? 😂

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The circus is in town and everyone is excited. When Nancy and the clue crew are at performance, Nancy notices someting is missing like some of the clowns don't have red noses. The next time they go Nancy sees even more things missing, What is happening?

[Indy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. My dad is awesome! He gives me snack.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one, but it wasn't my favorite Nancy Drew book.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another super cute book in this adorable series.

[Kelly Choy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The culprit was already obvious lol

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy, Bess, and George saw people who weren't using all of their equipment during the circus. I thought it was weird. I liked when they went to a circus in their friend's backyard.

[Kimberly Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to my 6yo, with whom I read the book, "it was good." I enjoyed dipping back into the stories of my childhood heroine.

[Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The circus is coming; the circus is coming! Nancy, George, Bess, and their classmates are excited about the traveling circus visiting River Heights. Their third-grade class has entered the raffle to win a Brownie the Bear stuffed animal that will be donated to the local children's hospital, so even more reason for the Clue Crew to be excited about the circus.
The story begins with the Clue Crew heading to the mall with Hannah to buy bathing suits, but something seems fishy to Bess when she spots Deidre in a dollar store, unlike her spoiled character. Is this a mystery, or is everything copasetic? With the Clue Crew always looking for a mystery, you know they'll follow the leads, but in the process, they unveil a real mystery at the circus. Costume pieces begin to disappear, which causes anger among the circus performers, and they may leave the circus. Nancy, George, and Bess follow the leads to determine who's stealing from the circus, but they only have a little time! The girls need to solve the mystery so the children's hospital will win the stuffed bear; no circus stuffed bear.
Overall, another cute story, but some of the instructions in the craft section weren't clear, and I suggest diagrams for young readers to follow along.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars because I can't think of a single thing that would merit only four stars, cute story but sort of predictable (from an adult perspective; younger readers may need a hint to solve it on their own). I do feel like Deirdre is written as sort of a one-dimensional character in this series, but one-note suits the amount of time given to the characters in the length of the story we're given.

Re-read:

I forgot that I'd read this... but yeah, still predictable once it gets to the obvious culprit. I can't complain TOO much, though, since mysteries (especially ones friendly to younger readers) are hard to do well.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the Nancy Drew books as a young preteen, and I can't wait to share the classic mysteries with our girls. In the meantime, I like these books designed for younger readers. They are a little too long for our oldest to read on her own, but both our girls love to listen to them. They feature Nancy at a younger age, so they are very age-appropriate and not scary in the least.

This one isn't my favorite, but I'm sure it has more to do with my personal dislike for circuses and clowns than anything else. Otherwise, it's a cute story and the bear was a fun touch.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the best book ever! Someone stole the circus costumes!

This was a really big case for the clue crew. First they thought it was a boy who wanted to have a normal life.
Soon they found out that it was not him. If you want to know how they found it out, you have to read the book.

At the end of the book they found out that Brownie the bear was the circus stealer!


This the best book I have read in my life so far.

YYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Elizabeth Sparks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Nancy Drew case is about how the girls are going to the circus, but the circus performers are missing part of their costumes. It is up to them to determined what happened to them. This book is an easier Nancy Drew for girls around second grade. A dominant theme in this book is to work hard and preserve to figure things out.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a bear in this and there was a teddy bear that was the bear. And Nancy was trying to win the stuffed bear for the hospital. Someone was taking the circus people's clothes.

[Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

ok

[Prashansa · Rating 1 out of 5]

My last clue crew book. I won't dare to touch any of them again. This was nothing but Yikes......

[Janessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was great. It's a mystery in a circus about the props missing and the Nancy Drew Clue Crew help find them. This book would be good for a 3-4th grader

[Amber Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect mystery for beginning readers. The reader is able to solve the mystery, the characters are dynamic, and it's fun!

[sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it around age 10~12, loved the story

[Courtney Holcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prue Nostalgia 10/10

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

[Dona · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great book like the rest of the series. The other eddition of the series is good too.