She ruffled her damp feathers and glared with one beady yellow eye at the Man Who Bends Light, who was fiddling with an ornate silver coffee service beside her perch. (pg 23)

“I almost perished of fatigue, you know. “She drooped on her perch in an attempt to look terribly forlorn and dramatic. “You could have lost me.” (pg 25)

Florence was the only other fifth grader at Peal Elementary School who ruled the bus with Micah, and when she staggered up to the stop, her red curls were barely visible behind the enormous model of an Egyptian pyramid that she was holding in both of her arms. (pg 40)

“Your grandfather… maybe he just embellished the real story. Maybe there really was a circus, and it was special to him. That's why he wrote the letter.”

“He didn't embellish.” Grandpa Ephraim had told the whole plain truth. (pg 52)

"I could help you with something maybe?” he suggested. “In exchange for a ticket? I could brush the horses. I'm good at it.”  The ticket taker shook his head. "Sorry I'm not authorized for barterin’.” (bartering) (pg 67)

A filthy, mangy-looking bird was fluttering in front of the window. When the light touched her, she shrieked, “I've been spotted by the natives!”  He started crawling across the branch toward the ugly bird. (pg 80)

He would have thought that was a good thing. Much less pressure… But Florence stepped into the room a moment later and grimaced when she saw her name at the very bottom of the board. She shot Jenny a ferocious look. (pg 99)

He had only ever seen illustrations of penguins before, and he'd thought that they looked solemn, as though they had dressed for a funeral. But they were such funny birds in person. (pg 108)

Ephraim was sure that even his toes were blushing. Say something he told himself. Say anything. He looked down at his boots. “Would you like to see a magic trick?” he blurted. He and The Lightbender both blinked at each other in surprise. (pg 117)

Tents had to be set to rights, and schedules had to be rearranged, and of course there was the usual kerfuffle with the menagerie, because no matter how many times they'd done it, the animal still thought that traveling by Door was a rotten idea. (pg 133)

The first insanity had begun just after the Starlings were married and it involved an obsession with millinery, which is a fancy word for hat making. Mr. Starling quit a lucrative career in banking in order to make flowery ladies’ hats. (pg 137)

The sign beside the three wooden steps that led up to the door said ROSEBUDS’ POTIONS AND POULTICES. “She must be some kind of herbalist,” said Jenny. She knocked on the door. (pg 205)

… he watched Rosebud grind all of her ingredients with a mortar and pestle that were much too small for her hands. She made a fine, brown powder and tipped it into a small pot with a cork top. (pg 206)

“I want my life to go back to normal. I want to make the best of a bad situation. I don't want to cling to infantile fantasies.” (pg 282)

After she finished, the tent was silent for a long time. The Man Who Bends Light stood as still as a petrified stump. (pg 26)

Chintzy turned her head around to preen a few feathers that had been mussed by the rain. (pg 27)

Obviously, Ephraim's parents were very important people. Both of them being vital to the effort, he was left with a lot of free time on his hands. (pg 29)

Slowly, inevitably, he made his way toward the only place in the circus that intrigued him more than the Bird Woman’s. The mysterious black tent. (pg 72)

Micah stared at his new friend and realized with a guilty squirm that he probably should have helped her before interrogating the bird. (pg 87)