About this item
Highlights
- Gold Winner, Nonfiction, 2024 Literary Titan Book AwardKirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books of 2024First Prize, Creative Nonfiction, 2024 North Street Book PrizeCircle of Sawdust is a uniquely personal story of the wild characters, fascinating personalities, remarkable histories, and behind-the-scenes world of traditional traveling circuses.Here is a true-life tale about a boy's impulse to run off and join the circus and then-through doubt, failure, loss, and tragedy-pursue the implausible vision of starting his own circus!
- Author(s): Rob Mermin
- 340 Pages
- Performing Arts, Circus
Description
About the Book
A uniquely personal story of the wild characters, fascinating personalities, remarkable histories, and behind-the-scenes world of traditional traveling circuses.
Book Synopsis
Gold Winner, Nonfiction, 2024 Literary Titan Book Award
Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books of 2024
First Prize, Creative Nonfiction, 2024 North Street Book Prize
Circle of Sawdust is a uniquely personal story of the wild characters, fascinating personalities, remarkable histories, and behind-the-scenes world of traditional traveling circuses.
Here is a true-life tale about a boy's impulse to run off and join the circus and then-through doubt, failure, loss, and tragedy-pursue the implausible vision of starting his own circus! With humor and passion, founder of Circus Smirkus Rob Mermin writes about the precarious life of a creative artist, the ups and downs of taking risks, and the idealistic struggle to hold onto a dream.
Review Quotes
"A fascinating tour de force that displays the enduring, unique appeal of the circus."
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"There is a magical quality in this book. Yes, it is a circus story, but it is really about the struggles of pursuing a dream, reaching it, and having the courage to push beyond it. It is highly entertaining, masterful storytelling! It reads like a Chaplin silent film, from laugh-out-loud comedy, to moving us to tears, completely capturing the essence of a life in circus."
-Alla Youdina, former creative director of new acts for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey