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Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus facts for kids

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Toby Tyler cover
Toby Tyler, first edition, cover. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881

Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus is a children's novel by "James Otis", the pen name of James Otis Kaler.

Summary

Toby Tyler tells the story of a ten-year-old orphan who runs away from a foster home to join the traveling circus only to discover his new employer is a cruel taskmaster. The difference between the romance of the circus from the outside and the reality as seen from the inside is depicted. Toby's friend, Mr. Stubbs the chimpanzee, reinforces the consequences of what happens when one follows one's natural instincts rather than one's intellect and conscience, a central theme of the novel.

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