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4-6
In alternating chapters, twelve-year-old Lily and her grandfather's circus elephant, Queenie Grace, tell how Lily's grandfather's death affects both child and animal. The prose can be awkward and the plot predictable, but circus-life details are engaging, and readers will feel empathy for both the child (who has abandonment issues courtesy of her distant trapeze-artist mom) and the elephant (whom Lily fights to protect from mistreatment).