Review Detail

this book is about the circus and the freaks shows back in the day. the book is called Freaks Alive, On The Inside by Annette Curtis Klause. the story takes place (once again) in my home state of Maryland in 1899. the story revolves around a boy named Abel Dandy. he lives in "Faeryland" a place where his parents perform with other "oddities" like dwarves, the two fat ladies, and Phoebe the Dog-faced girl - a girl who he has his first kiss with (interesting though huh?!) but alas, our poor boy Abel feels all alone among all these "freaks" why you ask? because Abel is a normal teenage boy. and he is wishing for adventure and to have a kiss from a girl who doesn't have a beard (who does right?). well, one day one of the acts, the siamese twins, decide to leave and as a parting gift one of the twins gives Abel a ancient egyptian ring. as soon as Abel wears the ring he starts to have strange dreams of a woman, a woman who begs Abel to save her....so what does a teenager do....he runs away from home. Abel seeks out his adventure but soon realizes that outside of "Faeryland" the world can be cruel. He meets sinister people like the horrible Dr. Mink, who runs a traveling freak show...and what Abel sees breaks his heart and changes his life....his adventure takes a dark and dangerous twist. this story at times is funny, sad, you will go through the emotions and rightly so. the book teaches us a lesson that no matter what someone may look like, no matter how different.....all of us are human and we all have feelings.