The Amazing Carnival Barker

Reviewed by Gail Whiffen

November 1, 2025

By Jonathan Talbot, illustrated by Signe Wilkinson. Self-published, 2025. 44 pages. $12.95/paperback.

Two talented Quaker artists have teamed up to tell this imaginative “illustrated tale for our times.” A charismatic carnival barker with an impossibly wide grin and a single curl of gold-colored hair stands outside a big tent promising passersby “the greatest show you’ll ever see in your life.” The exaggeration continues once enough cash is secured in exchange for tickets to enter: dressed in his “star-spangled suit,” the barker “puffs up his splendiferous chest” and declares “he’ll make things great . . . again.”

Inside the tent is a fabulous show indeed, with classic attractions a carnival goer would expect—clown cars, magicians, lions, and tigers—alongside more unusual acts such as “billionaire acrobats” flying high in fancy suits without a care for “the rest of us” on the ground far below. Things turn scary once the dragons come out and the exit doors are secretly locked. The barker’s smile is looking more and more sinister just as the excited crowd braces for his “ultimate act,” which involves dangerously juggling torches of fire. What could go wrong? How did we get here?

It’s clear the creators are commenting on the disastrous social and political challenges facing the United States today, and the barker undoubtedly resembles our current president. I’m a believer in the transformative power of art: in times of absurdity, sometimes humor and satire are what’s needed to cut through the noise and reveal the truth behind the spectacle, to help us see what’s really going on.

Grab your own copy of The Amazing Carnival Barker, or perhaps gift it to someone you know, to see how this truly incredible show plays out—will democracy prevail or will the “truth-telling liar” continue to burn it down?

Painter and collage artist Jonathan Talbot’s playful words are Seuss-like, providing the wacky and mischievous narrative (Talbot claims to be the story’s “amanuensis rather than its creator”). Political cartoonist Signe Wilkinson contributes her signature style to both font and illustration. The co-collaborators thank the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts for bringing them together. I’m grateful that they did.

Gail Whiffen is associate editor of Friends Journal