Betti on the High Wire begins with a circus girl whose mama is The Tallest Woman in the World with a Tail and whose dad is the famous bumpy Green Alligator Man. Big Mouth Babo, the circus girl, lives in a circus camp and sleeps in the lion’s cage. The circus animals and circus people and Babo’s mom and dad all disappeared when the soldiers came, but the circus ghosts still fly around and haunt the camp.

And all of the leftover children live in the empty circus camp with Auntie Moo who takes care of them. Babo, who is very brave, knows that her very tall mama and her green alligator daddy will come back to get her someday. In the meantime Babo is the leader of the leftover kids, and she doesn’t like Melons (foreigners) very much.

If you think that’s a confusing beginning to a realistic fiction book for middle grade readers, I must tell you that I’ve organized it and simplified it for you somewhat. I didn’t mention that Babo lives in an unspecified war torn country or that she’s “broken” with one fish eye and some missing toes. I didn’t tell you about One-Armed George and Sister Baroo and Old Lady Suri and the Teeny Tiny Puppet Man. As I read the book at first, I was completely confused and unsure of what was real and what was a figment of Babo’s very active imagination.

Strange to say the confusion works to show us, the readers, how confusing the world is for a young girl caught in a country ravaged by violence and war and then swept away to be adopted in the United States. Babo’s name changes to Betti. She gets new clothes. She eats new food. She tries to speak and understand English. Her life changes. And throughout all the changes, Babo/Betti remains a fierce little survivor; her new dad calls her their “little tiger.” She meets her new situation, new parents, new world with verve and tenacity. And since Betti is the narrator of the story, we get to see just how confusing life can be for a girl who’s taken away from everything she knows and loves, even though that familiar place is dangerous and violent, to a new place where everything is scary and strange and unpredictable.

I really loved this story once I got past the confusion of the first few chapters. I realized that the story was supposed to be confusing at first, to mirror the confusion that Babo/Betti felt and experienced. This book would be a wonderful resource for any child who is trying to understand a new adopted sibling or cousin or friend from another country. It would be great story for anyone who’s interested in bridging cultures and what it takes to bring about inter-cultural understanding. In fact, anyone who has never even thought about confronting and adapting to a new culture should read the book just to make themselves think about it just a little.

Or read it just for the fun of meeting Betti and watching her navigate the “high wire” of becoming an American girl. Good story.

Betti on the High Wire has been nominated for the 2010 Cybils Awards in the Middle Grade Fiction category.