Howard, J. J. That Time I Joined the Circus.

Howard, J. J.  That Time I Joined the Circus.   Scholastic Press  2013  262p  $17.99      ISBN 978-0-545-43381-5    hs  Realistic Fiction E-BN 

This refreshingly original plot takes the reader on a journey with Alex/Xanda/X (depending on her mood) as she leaves everything that is familiar to her to try to find her mother. The reader feels Alex’s emotions, empathizes with her, and finds him or herself rooting for her to find happiness and a place to call home.

When Alex’s father dies suddenly, in the middle of her senior year of high school in New York, she is informed by her father’s attorney that he has sent her inheritance on to her mother in Florida. Having left the family to join the circus years ago, Alex’s estranged mother’s last known whereabouts were in Florida with the circus.  Alex finds herself on a Greyhound bus to the circus, but finds when she arrives that her mother had left the circus several months before.  Alone, and with no money, Alex joins the circus.

This exciting page-turner of an adventure involves the reader on the difficult voyage of the lone, struggling Alexandra.  Allusions to musical lyrics that begin each chapter and are woven through the story add intrigue.  What transpires along the way and the ending that results are not what the reader expects.  This is a different, modern, and fun story that will engage and entice young-adult and reluctant readers.

Circuses-Fiction                                                                                             --Virginia McGarvey

Kelly, Lynne. Chained.

Kelly, Lynne.     Chained.    Farrar Strauss see Macmillan Children's Publishing Group    248p  $16.99      978-0-374-31237-4           ms/hs       E-BN  Realistic fiction

Ten-year-old Hastin is forced to leave his family in his desert village in India to work as an elephant trainer for one year, to repay a debt incurred by his little sister’s illness.  Hastin is happy to help his family and considers the task an adventure.

When Hastin arrives at his destination he is charged with the job of capturing the elephant.  At first he is excited, but he soon realizes how sad and difficult this is for the trapped baby elephant.  He also discovers the elephant’s primitive habitat and the cruelty and abusive behavior that the circus owner shows, to both him and to Nandita the elephant.  But he resolves to suffer and repay the debt anyway, because it will only cost one year of suffering.

Befriended by wise old Ne Min the circus cook, Hastin learns to care for the elephant properly and dodge the rage of the circus owner.  But then Hastin is told by the circus owner that his service will be extended to more than one year and that he may never return to his home in India at all.  Hastin protects Nandita from the abuse as well as he can and worries about his family in India while he plans an escape for himself and Nandita.
    

This book is engaging and suspenseful, with excellent characterizations and a well-paced plot.  Lynne Kelly is successful in drawing the reader into the story so that the reader identifies closely with Hastin’s feelings towards the other characters, feelings of anger, fear, sadness, and occasionally happiness.  This truly moving novel will surely resonate with and appeal to young and reluctant readers.  It is an extremely well-written book, and is recommended as an essential book for middle- and high-school libraries.

     

Elephants – Fiction, Circus life – Fiction, Realistic fiction

n  Virginia McGarvey

Barnaby, Hannah. Wonder Show.

Barnaby, Hannah.  Wonder Show.      Houghton Mifflin  274p  $16.99      978-0-547-59980-9 ms/hs       E-BN        Historical fiction    

The year is 1939.  Portia is a teenage girl who loves growing up hearing the stories told by her extended family.  But as times get tough economically, the family scatters. Her father ultimately leaves Portia with an aunt, who abandons Portia at a home for wayward girls after a few months. The owner of the home places the girls in what amounts to indentured servitude.  Although she establishes friendships at the home, she does something that leads to the death of her best friend, and Portia decides to flee.  A traveling-circus flyer leads her to her next stop … as part of a circus tour, where she seeks refuge in the sideshow of human oddities.  Because she is a “normal” in the troupe, she becomes a barker who entices paying customers to see the “freaks”.

As the circus travels from town to town, Portia never gives up hope that she will see a member of her family come through the gates of the show.  The sideshow performers become her friends and ultimately her rescuers. The deformities and unique abilities of the sideshow entertainers are secondary to their personalities, which are vibrant.  Readers will come to care about Portia and the other people in the circus and wish for a sequel to find out what happens next.  This is a book that has intrigue, untimely death, revenge, and compassion, all rolled up in one. It is great historical fiction about a time and lifestyle in history that is not often covered in young-adult fiction. Anyone who has ever been to a state fair or circus and wondered what life is like in a traveling caravan will find the historical beginnings of this type of  life revealed in this book, which bases its characters on actual sideshow personalities.    -- Lois McNicol  

Circus life – Fiction, Historical fiction