BOOK NAME: The Great and Only Barnum
AUTHOR:
Candace Fleming

P.T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum was considered the greatest showman on Earth and the inventor of the three-ring circus. He was one of the people behind the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which started more than 100 years ago and I’ve seen in person. This book is about Barnum’s life, which was crazy.

Barnum was born on July 4th, 1810, on the 34th birthday of the United States. He was named after his grandfather who was a comedian and prankster. Barnum, who was called Tale as a boy, grew up to be a performer and tricked people out of their money with a fake lottery. His grandfather even tricked him by giving him five acres of land called “Ivy Island” that Barnum soon found out was useless because it was infested with snakes. However, Barnum traded the land with someone else and eventually opened his first museum of human curiosities.

My favorite part of the book was when they explained the human curiosities like The Highland Mammoth boys, who were three fat guys from Scotland; Anna Swan: a 7-foot, 11-inch giant woman; Madame Clofulia, a bearded lady; Isaac Sprague, who was called “The Human Skeleton” because he was so skinny; and Chang and Eng, the Siamese twins who shared one stomach. Another curiosity that wasn’t in the museum was Charley Strattons, a 25-inch tall man they called Tom Thumb.

This was a very interesting book and what made it most interesting is that it all happened and wasn’t made up.