Reading Rainbow, Vol. 2: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

In Water for Elephants, Jacob Jankowski is a young veterinary student nearing his final exams at Cornell during the Great Depression. His plans to join his father's practice are abandoned when his parents are killed in a car crash and he learns that they have left him nothing, having mortgaged everything to pay for his education. In a panic, he flees and jumps aboard an open train car.

This particular train, he discovers, transports the members of the Benzini Brothers Circus. He joins them, working as the show's veterinarian and travelling throughout the country. He meets August, the animal superintendent, his wife Marlena, who performs with the liberty horses, and the opportunistic owner of the circus, Uncle Al. Jacob contends not only with the animals, but also with August's violent temper, Uncle Al's questionable and frightening business practices, and his burgeoning relationship with Marlena.

The story is told from the memory of the now-93-year-old Jacob, who lives in a nursing home. It is a very easy read, and though the story is fictional, it is peppered with true stories from travelling circuses of the early twentieth century, and features an interesting historical photograph at the beginning of each chapter.