The Boy in the Box — Cary Fagan

The Boy in the Box

by Cary Fagan

Imprint: Puffin Canada

Eleven-year-old juggling enthusiast Sullivan Mintz helps his family run the Stardust Home for Old People. His best friend, Manny, is eighty-one years old. Life turns upside down the night Sullivan glimpses a strange horse-drawn caravan outside his window and decides to follow it. He is thrilled to find an old-fashioned medicine show, with performers who are his own age. But thrill quickly turns to dread when he steps onstage for the magic act, only to wake up imprisoned inside the caravan.

As Sullivan meets the other kids his questions multiply. Would his family be better off without him? Would life as a performing juggler be worse than living in an old folks' home? Could being kidnapped be the best thing that ever happened to him?

(4 stars) “A complex, fast-paced, engrossing read, The Boy in the Box is Fagan at his best. Readers feel every disappointment, triumph, and agony with a cast of appealing, multifaceted characters. The farce is brilliantly balanced with entirely kid-friendly observations about life. I can't wait for the sequel.”
— CM Magazine

“This is a great book full of happiness, love, caring, and sorrow.”
— San Francisco Book Review (Reviewer age 13)

“Fagan creates wonderfully engaging characters and tackles some tough issues.”
— School Library Journal