Long Road to the Circus

Informationen zum Autor Betsy Bird; illustrated by David Small Klappentext 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 Leseprobe One  “Strongest grip in a girl I’ve ever saw,” Daddy said, not without some pride.  I looked down at my palms, rubbed raw where earlier I’d clung to the elm tree in our front yard with my no-good, stinking brother Bill pulling on my leg to get me down. He’d called me in for mealtime and I didn’t want to jump to obey his word, so there’d been a good five minutes of yanking and gripping before Daddy put a stop to it. I still wasn’t feeling anything in four of my fingers, but his praise was a cool, clear salve to those burning digits. A salve, that is, until Mama chimed in with “Just like the day she was born.” Once she said that, no amount of moaning on my part could derail her from telling “The Legend of Baby Suzy,” and believe me, I’d tried. Changing the subject didn’t amount to anything. Lying about our cow going into labor didn’t do any good (possibly because she wasn’t pregnant at the time). Ignoring my petulance, Mama launched right in. “The day you were born, lamb pie, you gave me more trouble than I’d ever had with your sister and brothers.” This was no small thing. Mama had three kids before me, and according to her, each one had been a trial. “I thought I knew all the ins and outs of birthing, but you gave me a real ride. You just didn’t want to leave! You were holding on for dear life to keep from meeting the world.” Then she began to laugh. My mama cannot talk about the day I was born without bursting into giggles. Granny says it’s unseemly. That means whenever she gets to the hilarious part, Granny will totter over and start poking her with her cane, which only sets my mama off further. “Get ahold of yourself, woman!” Granny says. “Birthing babies is our war! And telling the stories of it means telling about all the bloodshed and battles we overcame. Ain’t no time for tittering like a schoolchild.” Then she’ll poke me once upside the head with the cane and say, “You don’t see this one acting the fool when you tell that tale.”  I don’t think it much fair to get rammed in the head when I am doing something she likes, but that’s the way with Granny. Doing something right gets you one poke. Doing something wrong gets you a lot worse.  Anyway, the reason I wasn’t guffawing along with the rest of the family is because I’ve never found the story all that funny. And that’s on account of how Mama ends the story.  “Finally we get you out and there you are, smaller than a coop’s egg. This tiny little baby, all flailing limbs and wailing cry, looking half-starved, which is not the way a baby should be. But quick as lightning you latched on and started drinking on me, from the get-go. That’s when we knew you would do just fine.”  A pause.  “Except--”  “Except nothing,” I interrupted, not eager to hear any more. “An...

Détails du produit

• Auteurs: Betsy Bird, David Small
• Edition: Yearling Books
• Langues: Anglais
• Recommandation d'âge: à partir de 10 ans
• Format d'édition: Livre de poche
• Sortie: 08.08.2023
• EAN: 9780593304006
• ISBN: 978-0-593-30400-6
• Pages: 256
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 195 mm x 17 mm
• Catégorie: Livres pour enfants et adolescents