I won this book as a librarything giveaway. It is an excellent young adult book. The characters are very realistic and well developed. Within a few pages, I was convinced that this book was autobiographical until I read about the author. I love Eric Walters books and I would rate this book as being equally good and would recommend the author to young adults. You can easily feel the excitement of the protagonist as she arrives in Montreal and her emotions as she deals with the various elements of her life at camp. It teaches you to push through your fears and try your best. It also deals with handling peer pressure and peer competition.

I highly recommend this book. I will happily pass this along to a young adult reader and hopefully she will read others by this author as well. ( )

Learning the Ropes is an interesting read, however, for me it failed to really spark my interest. Despite the author doing a good job describing the circus, and the challenges being in the circus can bring - which includes some unhealthy competition, the book mostly fell flat for me.

I think this book would be much more appreciated by a youngster, in middle school, perhaps fascinated by aerialists, or the circus. For me, it did not have enough substance, but was an enjoyable enough read. ( )

Mandy flies from Vancouver to Montreal to attend a two-week circus camp at the Montreal Circus College. Mandy is an aerialist. She climbs rope.

“There will probably only be a spot at the Montreal Circus College for one aerialist. And it had better be me.” (6) This is the only YA book I’ve read about a teen wanting to be in a modern circus, but it's not an entirely entrancing novel.

Received from publisher Orca Book & Library Thing in return for a review 1/15/15, finished 1/21/15. ( )

Working in a library I am always asked for suggestions of a good tale to be told. Learning the Ropes has its issues but provides a young adult a good glimpse of the challenges of circus performing. The character development could use some work, the dialogue could be punched up a bit but overall it was a quick read and enjoyable. ( )

I received this advanced reading copy for free in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a very cool premise for a book, but the dialogue and characters fell a bit flat. Learning the Ropes tells the story of a girl named Mandy who gets accepted into the Montreal Circus College summer program as an aerialist. I really enjoyed the location and have not read many circus books. Other than Water for Elephants and The Night Circus, it was nice to see a young female protagonist in a contemporary teen setting. I felt that the dialogue was a bit mediocre and there were too many side characters to keep track of. The romance also felt a bit forced, but alas. In conclusion, this was a cute short book, that with some editing, will be enjoyed by many.

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