The Lampo Circus Read online

  Thanks to special friends: Nathaniel Hiscock, Miffy Thewlis, Julian Lynch and Emma Bates for accepting me ‘warts and all’.

  Lastly, thanks must go to all the young readers I have met for their support and enthusiasm. They have provided me with the incentive to keep writing.

  About The Author

  Alexandra EmilyAdornetto lives in Melbourne and is an only child. She has loved stories for as long as she can remember. Her family includes a three-legged cat called Rosie-Mittens, and a spaniel, Muffy-Boo, who features in this very book!

  The Shadow Thief, the first book in The Strangest Adventures series, was written when she was thirteen years old and inspired by J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

  Alexandra is currently completing Year I I at school where she is focusing on subjects such as Literature, History and Religion and Society. She is also a keen debater and performer. Whatever career Alexandra pursues in the future, she hopes to continue writing books for children.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Praise for The Shadow Thief

  ‘Clearly [Adornetto] is already an Australian

  literary phenomenon…to read The Shadow

  Thief is to be thrust into a fast-moving plot full

  of menace and thrills, amply seeded with a

  magnificently precocious vocabulary.’

  The Courier Mail

  ‘…an impressive debut…a wonderful fantasy

  story, full of adventure and scary,

  dark shadows.’

  The Australian Women’s Weekly

  ‘…a fantastic achievement…’

  The Sunday Age

  ‘…a comic fantasy full of magic.’

  The Sydney Morning Herald

  ‘You will be hooked by Alex’s sparkling dialogue and witty perceptive insights…’

  The Toowoomba Chronicle

  Copyright

  Angus & Robertson

  An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Australia

  First published in Australia in 2008

  This edition published in 2010

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Ltd

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  www.harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © Alexandra Adornetto 2008

  The right of Alexandra Adornetto to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright.

  Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copies scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  HarperCollinsPublishers

  25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney NSW 2073, Australia

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  77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB, United Kingdom

  2 Bloor Street East, 20th floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1A8, Canada

  10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

  Author: Adornetto, Alexandra

  Title:The lampo circus / author, Alexandra Adornetto.

  Publisher: Pymble, N.S.W.: Harper Collins, 2008.

  ISBN 978 0 7322 8619 4 (hbk.)

  ISBN 978 0 7304 0091 2 (Epub)

  Series: Adornetto, Alexandra. Strangest adventures.

  Dewey Number:A823.4

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

  Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com