Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers

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Jerry Apps

Meet the seven brothers who built the world’s most famous circus through hard work, ambition, and creativity.

128 pages, 7 x 9, 75 b&w photos and illustrations, 1 map
Paperback: $12.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-374-9
Ebook: $9.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-552-1
Publication Date: 10/23/2006

Reading Level: Ages 11–15, Grades 6–9

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Front cover of Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers

Description

The seven Ringling brothers grew up in a Mississippi river town where every summer they saw circuses arrived in town on riverboats. Mesmerized by the amazing feats and pageantry they witnessed, several of the brothers became performers themselves, and they all dreamed of someday owning their own circus. In Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers, young readers will learn how these brothers achieved their dreams and left an indelible mark not just on the world of circuses, but on American and world culture.

Author and historian Jerry Apps tells the inspiring story of the seven sons of German and French immigrants who were guided by their dreams to escape poverty through hard work and ambition. In the late nineteenth, the entrepreneurial brothers moved with their parents to Baraboo, Wisconsin, where their fantastic circus adventure began. With no prior circus experience, the brothers tackled one of the riskiest businesses of the time. Each brother contributed his unique talents to make their enterprise successful.

Featuring many black-and-white photos and illustrations from the period, the book explores the Ringling brothers' upbringing, the day-to-day struggles to keep the circus going as they traveled from town to town, and much more—from raising the big top to training the elephants. Rounding out the learning experience for young readers, Tents, Tigers, and the Ringling Brothers also includes classroom activities and suggestions for further reading.

Author Bio

Celebrated storyteller and rural historian Jerry Apps was born and raised on a central Wisconsin farm. He was a former county extension agent and professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Apps authored more than fifty fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, including Ringlingville USA: The Stupendous Story of Seven Siblings and Their Stunning Circus Success, Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Farm Family Values, The Quiet Season: Remembering Country Winters, and When the White Pine Was King, all published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

An illuminating account of nineteenth-century circus life.

Booklist

"Apps captures the spirit of the brothers who had a dream, worked together, and persevered to become one of the largest circuses in the world. Not only is this biography a wonderfully entertaining story, but it's narrated in a way that makes the reader feel a part of the growing excitement and adventure of developing a circus. Even though the vocabulary and captivating factual information is geared towards children, this is a book that can be enjoyed by young and old alike because it does resurrect that child in all of us!"

—Barbara Bellmer, art specialist and teacher at Brandon School, Brandon, Wisconsin