Circus Mirandus has a sequel. It’s called The Bootlace Magician. It’s probably my favorite thing I’ve ever written. It’s coming out on October 1, and you can enter to win an ARC (advanced reader copy) at the bottom of this post!

That’s the to-the-point version, for those of you who don’t want to read a wall of wildly-happy-author-enthusing right now. You can scroll right on down, and I won’t even know about it! 

For those of you who want to know a little bit more about the book:

Y’all, I love the circus, and I’m so thrilled I finally, finally, finally get to show you around the place like I’ve always wanted to!!! For the past five years, I’ve had this entire world bubbling around in my head that nobody else could explore. So many cool magicians just didn’t fit in the first book. It was closely focused on Micah, who was struggling to come to terms with Grandpa Ephraim’s illness, and there wasn’t room to introduce you to all of these interesting, kind, funny people from all over the world.

A lot of readers have sent me letters asking: What’s it like to live at a magic circus? What else can Micah do with his knot-tying power? What happened to Victoria Starling?

This is a book that answers those questions.

This story has a big heart, like Circus Mirandus, but Micah’s finding his way to the other side of his grief. He’s learning a lot more about his magic and discovering that he’s a pretty impressive magician in his own right. He’s dealing with the wonderfulness and the weirdness of being the only kid living at the circus.

We’ve got a stubborn baby unicorn. Magical surprises. The spectacular return of a certain villain you might remember. Battles!

Even a dragon…

And we get to spend a lot of time exploring the nooks and crannies and inner workings of Circus Mirandus, too. Which is something I really, really wanted to do.

I don’t know how many of you will feel the same way, but I’ve always been a reader who wants to sink deep into a fantasy world and imagine myself there. I want to see behind the scenes. I like the detours. As a kid reading Harry Potter I always wanted to spend more time exploring Diagon Alley or talking to the elves in the Hogwarts kitchens or finding secret passageways…

I think, if you’ve ever felt the same, then you might like this book, too.

It will be here in six short weeks.

The ARCs arrived yesterday afternoon, and they are beautiful. They also feel so big to me! This book is a whopper for a middle grade novel at nearly 90k words, and I hope y’all will enjoy every single one of them.

Thank you so much for coming with me to the circus the first time. I’m so excited to take you back!

(PS — If you’ve pre-ordered the book, or you plan to, thank you so, so much. It makes a big difference for us authors when people do that. I will have signed book plates and a special pre-order gift for you all soon! Pics to come. It should be going out at the end of September. Shoot me an email, if you haven’t already, to let me know where to send your goodies!)