The Freedom Circus

The Freedom Circus PDF Author: Sue Smethurst
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1760890316
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
'A story of extraordinary bravery, resilience and love that needed to be told.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz Written by award-winning author and journalist Sue Smethurst, whose husband is Mindla and Michael’s grandson, The Freedom Circus is an epic story of courage, hope, humanity, survival and, ultimately, love. When Sue Smethurst first sat down with her grandmother-in-law and asked how she survived the Holocaust, she was shooed away. By that time Mindla was in a Melbourne Jewish nursing home with other survivors, her body ageing but mind still razor sharp. ‘Why do you want to know?’ she’d ask. ‘My story is nothing special.’ As death began approaching Sue became a little more pushy. She knew Mindla’s life had to be recorded and they were running out of time. Each week she’d bring cake from her favourite shop in St Kilda, a bottle of the brightest nail polish she could find, a handful of old pictures and her tape recorder. They’d chat and paint Mindla’s nails, and with each ‘chat’ her story unfolded. It was beyond anything Sue could have imagined. The tale of how Mindla and her husband Michael Horowitz, a circus performer for the famous Staniewski Brothers, escaped from Poland with their young son and embarked on a terrifying journey through the USSR and Middle East to Africa and ultimately to safety in Australia, is nothing short of extraordinary.

The Freedom Circus

The Freedom Circus PDF Author: Sue Smethurst
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1760890316
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
'A story of extraordinary bravery, resilience and love that needed to be told.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz Written by award-winning author and journalist Sue Smethurst, whose husband is Mindla and Michael’s grandson, The Freedom Circus is an epic story of courage, hope, humanity, survival and, ultimately, love. When Sue Smethurst first sat down with her grandmother-in-law and asked how she survived the Holocaust, she was shooed away. By that time Mindla was in a Melbourne Jewish nursing home with other survivors, her body ageing but mind still razor sharp. ‘Why do you want to know?’ she’d ask. ‘My story is nothing special.’ As death began approaching Sue became a little more pushy. She knew Mindla’s life had to be recorded and they were running out of time. Each week she’d bring cake from her favourite shop in St Kilda, a bottle of the brightest nail polish she could find, a handful of old pictures and her tape recorder. They’d chat and paint Mindla’s nails, and with each ‘chat’ her story unfolded. It was beyond anything Sue could have imagined. The tale of how Mindla and her husband Michael Horowitz, a circus performer for the famous Staniewski Brothers, escaped from Poland with their young son and embarked on a terrifying journey through the USSR and Middle East to Africa and ultimately to safety in Australia, is nothing short of extraordinary.

The Night Circus

The Night Circus PDF Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385534647
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in the spellbinding novel that captured the world's imagination. • "Part love story, part fable ... defies both genres and expectations." —The Boston Globe The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.

Generation Freedom

Generation Freedom PDF Author: Bruce Feiler
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062104993
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
"Feiler’s combination of journalism, commentary and self-discoverytells the reader volumes about humankind.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution onAbraham BruceFeiler, the bestselling author of Walking theBible and Abraham,examines the biblical and historical underpinnings of the Muslim world'spresent-day uprisings. As conflicts rock the Middle East, Feilerreturns to the region to explore how the sectarian and political conflicts in Libya,Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Israel, and Palestine represent a collision betweenmodern-day political tensions, centuries of deeply ingrained religioustraditions, and deeply entrenched cultural divides. Joining the ranks of ThomasFriedman and Fareed Zakaria,Feiler offers a book of powerful, transformativeinsight, uniquely illuminating a region in turmoil whose problems have longbeen clouded in confusion.

The Circus in Winter

The Circus in Winter PDF Author: Cathy Day
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547864566
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
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 Top. In Lima, an elephant can change the course of a man's life—or the manner of his death. Jennie Dixianna entices men with her dazzling Spin of Death and keeps them in line with secrets locked in a cedar box. The lonely wife of the show’s manager has each room of her house painted like a sideshow banner, indulging her desperate passion for a young painter. And a former clown seeks consolation from his loveless marriage in his post-circus job at Clown Alley Cleaners. In this collection of linked stories spanning decades, Cathy Day follows the circus people into their everyday lives and brings the greatest show on earth to the page. “[An] exquisite story collection.” —The Washington Post “Often funny, always graceful, and rich with a mix of historical and imaginative detail.” —Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried “Sublimely imaginative and affecting.” —The Boston Globe

Circus of Wonders

Circus of Wonders PDF Author: Elizabeth Macneal
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982106816
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of the “lush, evocative Gothic” (The New York Times Book Review) The Doll Factory comes an atmospheric and spectacular novel about a woman transformed by the arrival of a Victorian circus of wonders—“as moving as it is deeply entertaining” (Daniel Mason, New York Times bestselling author). Step up, step up! In 1860s England, circus mania is sweeping the nation. Crowds jostle for a glimpse of the lion-tamers, the dazzling trapeze artists and, most thrilling of all, the so-called “human wonders.” When Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders pitches its tent in a poor coastal town, the life of one young girl changes forever. Sold to the ringmaster as a “leopard girl” because of the birthmarks that cover her body, Nell is utterly devastated. But as she grows close to the other performers, she finds herself enchanted by the glittering freedom of the circus, and by her own role as the Queen of the Moon and Stars. Before long, Nell’s fame spreads across the world—and with it, a chance for Jasper Jupiter to grow his own name and fortune. But what happens when her fame begins to eclipse his own, when even Jasper’s loyal brother Toby becomes captivated by Nell? No longer the quiet flower-picker, Nell knows her own place in the world, and she will fight for it. Circus of Wonders is a beautiful story about the “complex dance between exploitation and empowerment, and the question of what it really means to have control over your own life” (Naomi Ishiguro, author of Escape Routes).

My Mom Is the Best Circus

My Mom Is the Best Circus PDF Author: Luciana Navarro Powell
Publisher: Robin Corey Books
ISBN: 0307975029
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 26

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Book Description
This delightfully entertaining story celebrating mom as the best one-woman show on Earth! This humorous story celebrates mom as the best one-woman show on earth as she juggles everything that goes on during the day—she's a ringmaster, a wild beast tamer, a magician, and sometimes a clown. But her best stunt of all is the sandman show, when it's time for a good-night story. Luciana Navarro Powell's colorful, humorous illustrations are a perfect complement to her spirited, rhyming text.

The Floating Circus

The Floating Circus PDF Author: Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1599908093
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
In 1852 Ohio, twelve-year-old Owen steals aboard a floating circus called the River Palace, with nothing more in mind than catching a little of the show. But then a free black man named Solomon offers to take him on as an assistant animal keeper, and Owen discovers a family among the ragtag members of the circus-including a young elephant named Little Bet. A brush with yellowfever in New Orleans and a devastating storm threaten the boat and its crew. But it's the menace of slave catchers that poses the greatest danger of all, and that will put Owen's loyalty to Solomon and Little Bet to the test. This is a memorable tale of prejudice, race, and the relationships that transcend them. Inspired by the riverboat circuses of the nineteenth century, it also brings little known historical facts to life. TRACIE VAUGHN ZIMMER has worked as a special education teacher and reading specialist. She is also the creator of more than 80 teacher's guides for numerous publishers and has published poetry books as well as the novel Reaching for Sun. Tracie lives outside Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and two children. www.tracievaughnzimmer.com PRAISE FOR REACHING FOR SUN: "Like taking slow bites from a piece of homemade lemon pie-sharp sweet and honest." -Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medal winner "Josie's strength shines as she handles sadness and loss as well as recovery and progress."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

The Greatest Shows on Earth

The Greatest Shows on Earth PDF Author: Linda Simon
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780233981
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Beautifully illustrated and filled with rich historical detail and colorful anecdotes, this is a vibrant history for all those who have ever dreamed of running away to the circus, now in paperback. “Step right up!” and buy a ticket to the Greatest Show on Earth—the Big Top, containing death-defying stunts, dancing bears, roaring tigers, and trumpeting elephants. The circus has always been home to the dazzling and the exotic, the improbable and the impossible—a place of myth and romance, of reinvention, rebirth, second acts, and new identities. Asking why we long to soar on flying trapezes, ride bareback on spangled horses, and parade through the streets in costumes of glitter and gold, this captivating book illuminates the history of the circus and the claim it has on the imaginations of artists, writers, and people around the world. Traveling back to the circus’s early days, Linda Simon takes us to eighteenth-century hippodromes in Great Britain and intimate one-ring circuses in nineteenth-century Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso became enchanted with aerialists and clowns. She introduces us to P. T. Barnum, James Bailey, and the enterprising Ringling Brothers and reveals how they created the golden age of American circuses. Moving forward to the whimsical Circus Oz in Australia and to New York City’s Big Apple Circus and the grand spectacle of Cirque du Soleil, she shows how the circus has transformed in recent years. At the center of the story are the people—trick riders and tightrope walkers, sword swallowers and animal trainers, contortionists and clowns—that created the sensational, raucous, and sometimes titillating world of the circus.

Wild and Dangerous Performances

Wild and Dangerous Performances PDF Author: P. Tait
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230354017
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Elephants, lions, tigers and leopards evoke fascination and awe, fear and excitement. This book analyzes trained acts in twentieth-century live circus and cinema, reveals how humans anthropomorphize animals with their emotions, and interrogates the notion that animals embody a phenomenology of emotions and feelings in culture.

Long Road to the Circus

Long Road to the Circus PDF Author: Betsy Bird
Publisher: Yearling
ISBN: 0593304004
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES The story of a girl who rides an ostrich straight to her dreams from the award-winning writer and librarian Betsy Bird, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist David Small. "[A] charming, wacky novel." —The New York Times Twelve-year-old Suzy Bowles is tired of summers filled with chores on her family farm in Burr Oak, Michigan, and desperate to see the world. When her wayward uncle moves back home to the farm, only to skip his chores every morning for mysterious reasons, Suzy decides to find out what he's up to once and for all. And that's when she meets legendary former circus queen Madame Marantette and her ostriches. Before long, Suzy finds herself caught-up in the fast-paced, hilarious world of ostrich riding, a rollicking adventure that just might be her ticket out of Burr Oak. “Beautifully told by one of our best librarians.” —Jon Scieszka, First National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature