Twelve-year-old Owen forgoes an orphan train that’s headed west only to find himself falling in with a completely unexpected group of misfits—circus performers on the River Palace. As this floating circus makes its way down the Mississippi, Owen slowly discovers that his fellow workers aren’t freaks, but loners, like he is. A brush with yellow-fever in New Orleans and a devastating storm threaten the boat and its passengers. But it’s the menace of slave catchers that poses the greatest danger of all, and will put Owen’s loyalty to a freed black man to the test.

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer has worked as a special education teacher and reading specialist. She is also the creator of more than 80 teacher’s guides for numerous publishers (including Bloomsbury), and has published a book of poetry, Sketches from a Spy Tree, a NYPL Best Book. She lives in [Waxhaw, North Carolina.] www.tracievaughnzimmer.com