• A thrilling action-adventure featuring a ragtag ensemble cast, a cat-and-mouse chase with a powerful villain, and the daring and dangerous world of show biz.
• Set in an alternate history where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before he became president and America devolved further into a discriminatory, dangerous, and distraction-obsessed dystopia.
• Themes: cooperation, inclusion, the fragility of history (how a small change can make a big impact), historical discrimination faced by marginalized communities, and child labor exploitation in the show biz.
• Shane Peacock is a seven-time winner of the Junior Library Guild of America Selection, twice winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, three times for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book prize, and has been named to Kirkus Reviews’ annual Best Books list.
• Peacock has experience walking on the high wire himself, standing on the edge of skyscrapers with “Prince of the Air” Jay Cochrane, a famed Canadian tightrope walker and six-time Guiness World Record holder.
• Peacock has written about circuses in his book The Great Farini, about trying circus feats in Toronto Life, and about a side show in Coney island for Shift magazine.