Sixteen-year-old Noa, forced to give up her baby fathered by a Nazi soldier, snatches a child from a boxcar containing Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp and takes refuge with a traveling circus, where Astrid, a Jewish aerialist, becomes her mentor.

"In 1931, Lilly Blackwood was sold to the circus. More than two decades later, nineteen-year-old Julia Blackwood inherits her parents' estate and returns home hoping to erase painful memories of strict rules and forbidden rooms. Instead, she becomes immersed in a mystery involving a hidden attic room and circus photos featuring a striking young girl."-- 1931. Lilly Blackwood isn't allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. Momma insists...

When a circus ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, the poor animals are left on their own to swim the chilly waters. Staggering onto a nearby island, they soon win over the wary townspeople with their kind, courageous ways. So well do the critters blend in that when the greedy circus owner returns to claim them, villagers of all species conspire to outsmart the bloated blowhard.

At school, Olivia tells about her summer vacation and how, when she went to the circus and all the performers were out sick, she saved the day, becoming Olivia the Tattooed Lady, Olivia the Lion Tamer, The Amazing Flying Olivia, and more.

"When he realizes that his grandfather's stories of an enchanted circus are true, Micah Tuttle sets out to find the mysterious Circus Mirandus--and to use its magic to save his grandfather's life"--

The pony is a dream come true for a little girl. But the dream shatters when he is taken from her. Though time passes as the pony makes the best of his new life in the circus, he never stops hoping to find the little girl. And the girl never stops looking for him.

In 1944 in Hartford, Connecticut, twelve-year-old Audrey dreams of being an aerialist like her heroes, the Flying Wallendas, and so she is excited to go to Ringling Brothers circus with her six-year-old twin sisters; but at the show a fire breaks out, and as the crowd starts to panic Audrey struggles to reach her sisters--she gets Patty out, but Charlotte, afraid of heights, refuses to jump from the higher seats, and disappears as the big top comes...

"Ivan the gorilla draws colorful pictures to make his new friend Ruby smile"--Back cover.