Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley is a flurry of emotions packed into absolutely beautiful writing about a boy named Micah Tuttle. Micah’s grandfather, Ephraim Tuttle, is gravely ill, and he has been for some time now. However, Micah’s grandpa has always told him stories about a magical place called Circus Mirandus, where magic is everywhere, and where Micah’s grandpa had only been once. But that one time, he was offered a miracle by the Man Who Bends Light, or the Lightbender. Most children use their miracles to get souvenirs or more tickets, things that aren’t really miracles, but Micah’s grandfather decided to save his for later. And now, he will finally get a chance to call for the Lightbender and use his miracle. However, when the Lightbender says that he can’t make the miracle come true, Micah must go to Circus Mirandus and convince him to make the miracle come true.

Sadly, right now Micah is living with his terrible aunt, Gertrudis, his grandpa’s sister who vehemently believes that magic is just a trick of the mind (maybe it is). Living with Gertrudis also means that getting to Circus Mirandus will be a whole lot harder than it could’ve been.

Micah teams up with his super-smart best friend, Jenny, to look for the circus. When they’re in class, they get a clue to follow the wind at midnight, so they do, and they find the majestic Circus Mirandus right at their fingertips. However, when they get in, Jenny accidentally insults the circus head and Micah drags her out of the circus, not knowing when he will get a chance to go back again. Suddenly, the circus’s messenger, a bird named Chintzy, brings them to the Lightbender, but he says that he will not be able to fulfill the miracle.

After hearing this, Micah is heartbroken that he will have to watch his grandfather die. Yet he keeps telling himself that this can’t be true, and he eventually believes it. So he goes on a quest that could very well kill him, to convince the Lighbender to listen to his grandfather and make the miracle come true once and for all.

I really loved this book because of the balance between the characters and how not one character was very much better than the others. While Jenny is ridiculously smart, she has a hard time conceiving of a thing or a place like Circus Mirandus, thinking that instead of it being magic, it’s science. While Micah seems to be alright in every category and brings the other characters in harmony.

Another reason I liked this novel is how well Beasley could have an element of realism keeping the novel grounded, while still having the story feel like every bit was embedded with magic. One reason that it felt this way was because of the little things that people feel every day that Cassie wrote into the book. Such as the tiredness you feel on a Monday morning or after eating a big dinner, or even the minuscule things that happen when you feel a certain feeling. Such as happiness making you just a bit jittery, or your anger taking you over and making you feel like you have no control. I’m really glad that I finally got to read this novel, (I’ve read the sequel three times without actually reading the first book) and I loved it just as much as I thought I would.