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2) Be a star!
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Allie, Bella, Carly, and Marlo, eight-year-old performers in the Stardust Circus, are normally best friends--but when a film crew comes to do a television special on the circus, Allie's dreams of being a Hollywood star threaten to drive a wedge between them.
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A vivid, daring novel about the devastating power of family secrets--beginning in the poignant, lurid world of a Depression-era traveling circus and coming full circle in the transformative 1950s.
On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn’t allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She’s never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists...
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"Avita was born to be a star. Her tent sells out nightly, and every performance incites bloodcurdling screams. She's the most lucrative circus act from Texas to Tacoma, the crown jewel of the Family Fortuna, and Avita feeds on the shrieks, the gasps, the fear. But when a handsome young artist arrives to create posters of the performers, she's appalled by his rendering of Bird Girl. Is that all he sees? A hideous monster--all sharp beak and razor teeth,...
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The Electric Woman is Tessa Fontaine's astonishing audiobook memoir about a life-affirming journey of loss and self-discovery. Narrated by the author, this audiobook recounts Tessa's life on the road with the last traveling American sideshow and her relationship with an adventurous, spirited mother. Turns out, one lesson applies to living through illness, keeping the show on the road, letting go of the person you love most, and eating fire: The trick...
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Robin' Medina was the finest contortionist and circus performer of modern times. A Gay icon and friend to Dame Barbara Cartland, and admired by stars like Princess Margaret, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, his has been an extraordinary life. This is his story as told to the Scottish-born poet, John Wright.
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The nineteenth century was the golden age of the circus in Ohio. Before the Ringling brothers became synonymous with the American circus, Cincinnati's John Robinson and the Sells brothers of Columbus wowed audiences with stunning equestrian feats and aerial exploits. For good measure, the Sells brothers threw in a sharpshooting show with a young Ohio woman by the name of Annie Oakley. The Walter L. Main Circus of Geneva and a number of smaller shows...
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William L. Slout, circus historian par excellence, here provides six essays on the development of the American circus. "From Rags to Ricketts: The Roots of Circus in Early Gotham" looks at the beginnings of circus entertainment in old New York City during the eighteenth century. "The Great Roman Hippodrome of 1874: P. T. Barnum's 'Crowning Effort'" describes the great showman's grand experiment: the collection and display in the Big Apple of the "largest...
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The first comprehensive 'biography' of one of the first celebrity animals who gave us one of our favourite words. Jumbo, Victorian England's favourite elephant, was born in 1861 in French Sudan, imported to a Parisian zoo and later sold on to London, where – for seventeen years – he dutifully gave children rides and ate buns from their hands, all the while being tortured at night to keep him docile. Worldwide fame came when he was bought by the...
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Never Quote the Weather to a Sea Lion (and other uncommon tales from the founder of the Big Apple Circus) is a celebration of Paul Binders life in and around the circus. Drawing on thirty-five years with the show he created, the Big Apple Circus founder and founding Artistic Director invites us inside the fence every kid peers through for an intimate look at the uncommon life of circus artists, their animal partners, and the roustabouts who spend...
12) Circus Mania!
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A history of the circus from its origins in the Roman times, through its establishment in Western Europe, and to the modern day circus-absolutely diverse and captivating Circuses have existed since Roman times, but centuries later, the circus world has never been more diverse and captivating, the global success of Cirque du Soleil testament to its enduring and universal appeal. Traditional family circuses for kids, arty cirque-style shows for adults,...
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"Nucci" is fiction fueled by fact. A coming-of-age saga across generations. His story and vintage photos place you inside his world of thrills and secrets-an insider's story of triumphs and betrayals-with an ending to surprise you more than once.
Nucci's family, the Loyal Repenskys, is a celebrated troupe of equestrian bareback riders brought to America in 1933. Their stories include encounters with Hitler's Sturmabteilung-Stormtroopers-in Berlin...
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William L. Slout, entertainment historian par excellence, here provides five fascinating essays on the development of the American traveling circus in the post-Civil War era: "En Route to the Great Eastern Circus" (on the creation of this great show); "The Great Eastern Circus of 1872" (more details about one of P. T. Barnum's rivals); "The Not-So-Great Trans-Atlantic Circus and Menagerie" (how a show failed suddenly in a yellow fever epidemic); "What...
15) Cirque du slay
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Pint-sized Seattle middle school teacher and gay dating blogger Hayden McCall and his best friend Hollister are invited to a fundraiser for Bakers Without Borders. The celebrity performer, Kennedy Osaka, is the artistic director of Mysterium, an upscale circus arts show combining magic, acrobatics, and a Michelin-star dinner. But Kennedy is a no-show--until she's found dead in her hotel suite. When frenemy Sarah Lee is discovered in the room with...
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From ancient Egypt to the modern-day circus, the role of the clown can be traced throughout history. But how much do you really know about the profession that takes comedy very seriously? This fascinating book takes the reader on a journey through the ages, explaining how clowns such as the whiteface and auguste came to be. You'll read about history's best-loved performers such as Joseph Grimaldi, the father of modern clowning, and learn about the...
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Beneath the Big Top is a social history of the circus, from its ancient roots to the rise of the 'modern' tented travelling shows. A performer and founder of a circus group, Steve Ward draws on eye-witness accounts and contemporary interviews to explore the triumphs and disasters of the circus world. He reveals the stories beneath the big top during the golden age of the circus and the lives of circus folk, which were equally colourful outside the...
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"The first major biography of P.T. Barnum in a generation, a vivid account of the forefather of American entertainment. P. T. Barnum was the greatest showman the world has ever seen: the cocreator of the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the man who made worldwide sensations of Jumbo the Elephant, General Tom Thumb, and the "Swedish Nightingale," Jenny Lind. He was the champion of wonder, joy, trickery, and "humbug." He was, as Barnum argues, one of the...
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Enjoy the enthralling world of street performance, also known as busking. Packed with insights and inspiration for buskers, their fans, and people who are just curious about the many faces of street performance.
Covers musicians, circus routines (jugglers, fire dancers, tight-wire) and street theater (puppeteers, mime, cosplay, human statues).
Guitarists in the boisterous fish market of the Pacific Northwest; didgeridoo virtuosi on the Melbourne malls;...
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Carnivals are a fantastic way to spend a day. With popcorn, cotton candy, rides, and games, there's something for every person to enjoy. But younger kids might find the crowds, lights, and noise a little overwhelming. This book for beginning readers is the perfect way to prepare a new carnival goer for a super-fun day. Including full-color photographs that closely correlate to the text, it introduces carnival basics in language written especially...
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