Escape the chill of a rainy November night under the magic of the big top. Behind the extravaganza, these books featuring circuses explore the yearning to find magic among the mundane as well as everyone’s fundamental need to belong.
Looking through the maze of distorted reflections, Dany watches in horror as the boy who walks out of the house of mirrors, a boy who looks just like himself but isn’t, leaves the carnival with his parents. Trapped as a reflection in the mirror, Dany (now Andy) is rescued by Mona, a magical acrobat. Unable, or unwilling, to leave this fantastic place, Andy falls easily into the routine of the carnival. Back home, Dany’s mother struggles to understand her son, a boy who looks like Dany but who seems “off” — sullen and dark. When Burleigh, the creator of the house of mirrors returns and connects with the changeling, the stories of Dany and Andy converge and take a dark turn. Carnivalesque by Neil Jordan explores a world of magic, a boy’s transition from childhood to adolescence and the fragile line between reality and illusion.
The Church of Marvels was like no other circus on Coney Island at the turn of the century. Created by the charismatic Friendship Willingbird Church, the extravaganza focused on promoting true talent, real tricks and camaraderie. After a tragic fire destroys the circus, twins Oldie and Belle lose their mother and the only home they ever knew. When Belle leaves for New York with only a cryptic letter describing her circumstances, Olgie decides to find her and bring back the only family she has left. In The Church of Marvels, Leslie Perry tells the story of four characters struggling to survive and fit into a word where they feel they don’t belong. These interweaving tales explore the gritty streets of New York, navigating street fights, opium dens, gambling circles and a women’s asylum. Despite the somewhat bleak content, Perry creates a word that is subtly optimistic, where even at its worse, things might just be shinier than they appear.
A world without magic can seem rather bleak, particularly to 10-year-old Micha, whose parents have passed and whose grandfather lays dying upstairs. Under the care of his resentful great aunt, Micha is alone and uncertain about his future. Whenever able, he sneaks into his grandfather’s room to hear the stories of Circus Mirandus, the magical circus his grandfather attended as a boy, where he was granted one miracle by the great illusionist the LightBender. Micha sets out to find the magical circus and the man he believes can save his grandfather. Circus Mirandus by Cassie Baker tells a story that is heartbreaking and beautiful, exploring how the power of imagination and love can get us through the most difficult of times.
If these circus-inspired books aren’t enough to get you through the dark November evenings, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Stephen King’s Joyland and Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things will continue the adventure into the unknown, under the starlit sky of the big top. Stop by your local library for other great circus-related adventures.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Heather Hadley works at Port Moody Public Library.
