PROFESSOR RENOIR'S COLLECTION OF ODDITIES, CURIOSITIES, AND DELIGHTS

Two fourteen-year old girls - one a giant and the other a dwarf- start out as enemies, but soon come to depend on one another in this vivid, entertaining, and wonderfully authentic historical novel set in the world of a traveling carnival in 1897.

The year is 1897, and Fern "Babe" Killingworth is fourteen years old, six-foot-nine inches, and weights 342 lbs. When her father sells her for a hundred dollars to Professor Phillipe Renoir, Babe has nothing to lose. She is hoping she will find something worthwhile working alongside the other "freaks" in Professor Philippe Renoir's Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights.
When Babe meets Carlotta, the tiny performer seems like nothing more than a spoiled diva. "I'm a dwarf, not a midget!" says the diminutive dancer but soon the two are partners in crime, eventually tiring of the conditions and treatment they experience in carnie life, and especially afraid of Renoir's threats to kill and stuff their beloved animal companions, an elephant, a chimp, and a bear. When the two girls get good news in a letter, they run away from Renoir, and find themselves in a much better situation at the home of Carlotta's aunt - but will it be the last stop for Babe?

Randall (Randi) Platt is the author of several works of adult and children's historical fiction, has won several regional awards, has had many ALA recognitions, and has had one book turned into a film called Promise the Moon based on her book The Four House Fe-As-Ko. Her newest book, The Girl Who Wouldn't Die has received great reviews. A veteran of historical fiction and a stellar researcher, Randi has an impressive affinity for detail and dialect. Platt, a lifelong resident of the "Upper Left Hand Corner," has been a full-time writer for thirty years. She is currently in the process of converting out of print books into ebooks.