Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Children's Fiction Circus

The Bonaventure Adventures

by (author) Rachelle Delaney

Publisher
Tundra Book Group
Initial publish date
May 2017
Category
Circus, Friendship, School & Education
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780143198505
    Publish Date
    May 2017
    List Price
    $19.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780143198512
    Publish Date
    May 2018
    List Price
    $11.99

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 8 to 12
  • Grade: 3 to 7

Description

A middle-grade novel for fans of boarding school stories--with a dash of The Mysterious Benedict Society and a splash of Circus Mirandus!

Sebastian Konstantinov comes from a long line of talented circus performers. Somehow, however, he has not inherited any of their acrobatic skill: he has no balance, he's afraid of heights, he can't even turn a somersault. But there's one thing he does know: his father's circus, which travels through Eastern Europe, is out of date and is fast running out of money.

Seb has a solution, though: if he can somehow get into the Bonaventure Circus School in Montreal, Canada, he might be able to learn something valuable to help his father. Seb secretly writes to the Directrice (an old friend of his father's) and is accepted into the school. All he has to do is convince his father to send him away -- oh, and keep his lack of talent a secret from all his teachers and classmates. Fortunately for him, he befriends two other students, who also don't seem to quite fit in.

Seb is not the only one with secrets, it turns out. The school is literally crumbling beneath the feet of its students, and the directrice may be counting on Seb's "talent" to save the day. Can he and his new friends figure out what's really going on in the school that bills itself as the World's Best Circus School?

About the author

RACHELLE DELANEY lives in Vancouver, BC, where she works as a freelance writer, editor and creative writing teacher. The Lost Souls Of Island X is the follow-up to her first novel, The Ship Of Lost Souls, which won the Canadian Authors Association/BookLand Press Emerging Writer Award and was shortlisted for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, the Chocolate Lily Book Award and the Red Cedar Book Award. Visit her online at www.rachelledelaney.com.

Rachelle Delaney's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Chocolate Lily Award
  • Short-listed, Chocolate Lily Award
  • Short-listed, Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award
  • Nominated, Diamond Willow Award

Editorial Reviews

One of CCBC’S Best Books for Kids & Teens (2017)
PRAISE FOR The Bonaventure Adventures:

"The Bonaventure Adventures is likely to be the most fun readers will have in 2017." --CM Magazine
"Heartwarming and hilarious. . . . With vibrant circus imagery and a story that is sure to capture the imagination of readers, The Bonaventure Adventures would make an excellent choice for a classroom read-aloud." --Canadian Children’s Book News

Other titles by