Once I was a skinny redhead with a dog called Stinky and a lot of things to find out. Then I met Kite. Kite showed me how to be an acrobat, and I showed him some stuff too. Because I'm always having ideas. I can't help it. Like it was my idea to make a circus with all the others, but, to tell you the truth, I don't know whose idea the kiss was. Some things just happen. Some things are glorious and make you feel like you might just fall in love and some things are terrible, like what happened at the rehearsal. Kite looked at me and I knew a terrible terrible thing was about to happen. I'd better tell you the whole story Cedar B. Hartley - the original, irrepressible, and potentially infamous - is pulled between a glamorous high-flying dream and her own circus of friends, in this funny, wise, exhilarating story. Praise for The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley (who planned to live an unusual life): Once in a while you read a book so perfect you can't imagine it being written any other way (it) is very funny, deeply moving and just about all you could ask for in a novel for children, or adults come to that ' Philip Ardagh in the Guardian UK