HENRIETTA HORNBUCKLE’S CIRCUS OF LIFE

Twelve-year-old Henrietta Hornbuckle was born into Filbert’s Traveling Clown Circus and is determined to stay a clown forever. She’s never stepped inside a house or school, and she never wants her life of constant change to, well, change: “Hers was an existence of freedom and movement. Who had it better than that?” Henrietta’s security lies in her doting parents’ love, especially that of her father, who, at 4 feet 3 inches tall, is her mirror—both character-wise and in clown routines. When he is killed by a car on Long Island one night, Henrietta is numb, disbelieving. The clean, engaging third-person narration and rapid-fire dialogue distinguish this artfully concise novel about the inevitability of change, for better or worse. Not only is the straight-shooting style an interesting contrast to the colorful circus backdrop, it echoes Henrietta’s endearingly blunt manner and stubborn nature. What will win out: stability, in the form of an offer of money and housing extended by Henrietta’s wealthy Aunt Carlotta, or the promise of the unknown? One thing’s for sure: The show must go on! (Fiction. 10-14)