11-year-old juggling enthusiast Sullivan Mintz helps his family run the Stardust Home for Old People...
While his father worries about finances and his mother is distracted by her poetry (rather embarrassingly, she's known as the Bard of Beanfield), Sullivan deals with his little sister, who can be a bit of a brat, and gets taunted at school for being short and clumsy. As a result, Sullivan's best (and only) friend, Manny, is 81-years old. which is pathetic, but at least Manny introduced Sullivan to his #1 obsession—juggling.
But life as usual turns upside down when Sullivan glimpses Master Melville's Medicine Show, a travelling caravan. Enchanted by its mysterious and magical allure, and an excitement at finding performers his own age, he has to visit it again. But thrill turns dissolves into dread when he steps onstage for the magic show—only to wake up imprisoned in the traveling show’s caravan!
Sullivan's chances for escape are dashed by the Melvilles, but he's comforted by the other children in the show. Clarence, the small boy who trains dogs, becomes Sullivan's first friend his own age—and there's Esmeralda, the beautiful girl who walks the tightrope. Best of all, this new "family" values his juggling!
As his fears subside, his questions multiply. Is his family better off without him? Would life as a juggler performing with other kids be worse than living in an old folks’ home? Being kidnapped could be the best thing that ever happened to him... or decidedly not.
While Sullivan is coming to terms with his new life, his younger sister and Manny hit the road, intent on tracking him down. But even as they follow, the caravan rolls on, taking Sullivan and the others farther away from their homes...
About the Author
Cary Fagan is an award-winning author of books for children and adults. He has won the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jewish Book Committee Prize for Fiction and a Mr. Christie Silver Medal, and he has been shortlisted for the Norma Fleck Award and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. He is also the author of Mr. Karps Last Glass and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas, a sequel to Mordecai Richler's classic. He lives in Toronto.
Description:
11-year-old juggling enthusiast Sullivan Mintz helps his family run the Stardust Home for Old People...
While his father worries about finances and his mother is distracted by her poetry (rather embarrassingly, she's known as the Bard of Beanfield), Sullivan deals with his little sister, who can be a bit of a brat, and gets taunted at school for being short and clumsy. As a result, Sullivan's best (and only) friend, Manny, is 81-years old. which is pathetic, but at least Manny introduced Sullivan to his #1 obsession—juggling.
But life as usual turns upside down when Sullivan glimpses Master Melville's Medicine Show, a travelling caravan. Enchanted by its mysterious and magical allure, and an excitement at finding performers his own age, he has to visit it again. But thrill turns dissolves into dread when he steps onstage for the magic show—only to wake up imprisoned in the traveling show’s caravan!
Sullivan's chances for escape are dashed by the Melvilles, but he's comforted by the other children in the show. Clarence, the small boy who trains dogs, becomes Sullivan's first friend his own age—and there's Esmeralda, the beautiful girl who walks the tightrope. Best of all, this new "family" values his juggling!
As his fears subside, his questions multiply. Is his family better off without him? Would life as a juggler performing with other kids be worse than living in an old folks’ home? Being kidnapped could be the best thing that ever happened to him... or decidedly not.
While Sullivan is coming to terms with his new life, his younger sister and Manny hit the road, intent on tracking him down. But even as they follow, the caravan rolls on, taking Sullivan and the others farther away from their homes...
About the Author
Cary Fagan is an award-winning author of books for children and adults. He has won the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jewish Book Committee Prize for Fiction and a Mr. Christie Silver Medal, and he has been shortlisted for the Norma Fleck Award and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. He is also the author of Mr. Karps Last Glass and Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas, a sequel to Mordecai Richler's classic. He lives in Toronto.
Visit his web site at CaryFagan.com.