Adolescence can be dangerous in the best of circumstances, but double that for Jeff Metcalf's winning protagonist Hubert Walker, who gets in trouble in Salt Lake City and then leaps from the frying pan into the fire by running away and joining the carnival: Wacko's City of Fun

Hub's on the run and claims to be tough and ready, but becoming a carnie? Based on true events, this stirring story of traveling the west and finding friends in strange places, is about a young man who, we suspect, knows that he is at times his own worst enemy. In his charged and wry prose Jeff Metcalf has given us a rich vibrant story of the dangers and joy of being young.