Ghost Boy
By Iain Lawrence
(Laurel Leaf, Mass Market Paperback, 9780440416685, 352pp.)
Publication Date: March 12, 2002
Other Editions of This Title: eBook, Prebound (March 2002), Prebound (March 2002), Hardcover (October 2000)
Categories: Social Issues - Runaways, Social Issues - Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
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Harold Kline is an albino—an outcast. Folks stare and taunt, calling him Ghost Boy. It’s been that way for all of his 14 years. So when the circus comes to town, Harold runs off to join it.
Full of colorful performers, the circus seems like the answer to Harold’s loneliness. He’s eager to meet the Cannibal King, a sideshow attraction who’s an albino, too. He’s touched that Princess Minikin and the Fossil Man, two other sideshow curiosities, embrace him like a son. He’s in love with Flip, the pretty and beguiling horse trainer, and awed by the all-knowing Gypsy Magda. Most of all, Harold is proud of training the elephants, and of earning respect and a sense of normalcy. Even at the circus, though, two groups exist—the freaks, and everyone else. Harold straddles both groups. But fitting in comes at a price, and Harold must recognize the truth beneath what seems apparent before he can find a place to call home.
Iain Lawrence is a journalist, travel writer, and avid sailor.
“This touching novel, [set a few years after World War II], will speak especially to readers who consider themselves different, flawed, or misunderstood.”
—School Library Journal, Starred
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