The circus arrived in town unannounced. Even so, people flocked to the big top. They don't know that two of the acts--young magicians, Celia and Marco--have been trained since childhood by their instructors for a competition between them that will leave only one standing. Even when the two fall in love, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone hang in the balance.

Over a half century, a small Indiana town hosts a circus troupe during the off-seasons in linked stories "as graceful as any acrobat's high-wire act" (San Francisco Chronicle).
A Story Prize Finalist
From 1884 to 1939, the Great Porter Circus made the unlikely choice to winter in an Indiana town called Lima, a place that feels as classic as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and as wondrous as a first trip to the Big...

Two mice and a crow, who travel with a circus, cleaning up the spilled popcorn after every performance, come to the rescue when a greedy con artist takes over the management of the circus.

In turn-of-the-century America, a young girl dreams of a world that stretches beyond the confines of a quiet life on the family farm. With little more than her wit and a cigar box of treasures to call her own, Mable steps away from all she knows, seeking the limitless marvels of the Chicago World's Fair. There, a chance encounter triggers her destiny - a life with a famed showman by the name of John Ringling. A quarter of a century later, Lady Rosamund...

The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out-orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss...

Both a great American adventure and a rare entry into a sheltered world, Under the Big Top describes one man's pursuit of every child's fantasy: running away to join the circus. Bruce Feiler's unforgettable year as a clown will forever change your view of one of the world's oldest art forms and remind you of how dreams can go horribly wrong -- and then miraculously come true.

Although at first he plans only to exhibit the Pushmi-pullyu, John Dolittle soon becomes manager of a very special circus.

Ten turkeys performing circus acts block a country road, much to the frustration of an angry farmer in a pick-up truck who tries to shoo them away.

Now 94 and living a quiet life, Cecily Larson, when her family surprises her with an at-home DNA test, finds the unexpected results not only bringing to light the tragic love story she's kept hidden for decades but also calls into question everything about the family she's raised and claimed as her own.

DIY Circus Lab for Kids gives families everything they need to produce their own circus! Author Jackie Leigh Davis invites the you into the international youth circus community, then dives into the circus skill families: juggling, acrobatics, manipulation, balance, and clowning. The book opens with a do-it-yourself prop-making class, and provides enough homemade circus equipment to get you started on some fun circus basics. Rising circus stars will...