Age range 9 to 14 Left all alone after her mother passes away, twelve-year-old Louisa watches the sky for her father. Long ago, a powerful gust of wind stole him away on the wings of his untamed magic -- the same magic that stirs within Louisa. As if she is made of hollow bones and too much air, her feet never quite touch the ground.

But for all her sky gazing, Louisa finds her fortune on the ground when she spots a ticket to the Carnival Beneath the Stars. If her father fits in nowhere else, maybe she''ll find him dazzling crowds alongside the other strange feats. Yet after she arrives, a tightrope act ends disastrously --and suspiciously.

As fate tugs Louisa closer to the stars, she must decide if she''s willing to slip into the injured performer''s role, despite the darkness plucking at the carnival''s magical threads.