Authorvisit Flyer

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Contact Information:
email: lauraawoollett@gmail.com
phone: 617-970-1560
website: www.laurawoollett.com
twitter: @LauraAWoollett
"Fascinating,
devastating,
and impeccably
researched."
- starred review, Booklist
Big Top Burning

by Laura A. Woollett
The fire broke out at 2:40 p.m. Thousands of men, women, and children were crowded under Ringling
Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s big top watching the Flying Wallendas begin their death-defying high-wire
act. Suddenly someone screamed “Fire!” and the panic began. By 2:50 the tent had burned to the ground.
Not everyone had made it out alive.
With primary source documents and survivor interviews, Big Top Burning recounts the true story of the 1944
Hartford circus fire—one of the worst fire disasters in U.S. history. Its remarkable characters include Robert
Segee, a 15-year-old circus roustabout and known pyromaniac, and the Cook children, Donald, Eleanor, and
Edward, who were in the audience when the circus tent caught fire. Guiding readers through the
investigations of the mysteries that make this moment in history so fascinating, this book asks: Was the
unidentified body of a little girl nicknamed “Little Miss 1565” Eleanor Cook? Was the fire itself an act of
arson—and did Robert Segee set it? Big Top Burning combines a gripping disaster story, an ongoing
detective and forensics saga, and World War II–era American history, inviting middle-grades readers to take
part in a critical evaluation of the evidence and draw their own conclusions.
Laura A. Woollett is the author of the middle-grade book Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a
Missing Girl, and The Greatest Show On Earth, a nonfiction account of the 1944 Hartford circus fire,
published by Chicago Review Press. She is also a contributor to The Great Connecticut Caper, an online,
serialized mystery for kids published by CT Humanities. Laura has a Master’s degree in Children’s
Literature from Simmons College and is a full-time editor of literacy curriculum for children in grades K–12.
Originally from South Windsor, Connecticut, Laura now lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter,
and two cats.
“This meticulously researched book will draw readers into a terrifying disaster story—and an unsolved
mystery.” — Steve Sheinkin, award-winning author of The Port Chicago 50
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Author Visits School Visit Fees
Boston/Metrowest, MA area: $300 per

60-minute presentation
Big Top Burning Hartford, CT area: $300 per 60 minute
by Laura A. Woollett presentation plus mileage
reimbursement at $.50/mile
Laura is an energetic presenter with a passion for writing and for
ferreting out the forgotten stories of history. A standard school Other areas: Please contact Laura to
visit can be done with an auditorium of kids, with a class, or with discuss.
a small group. Presentations are approx. 60 minutes with time for
Q&A. (Laura can tweak timing depending on schools' needs.)
Due to the difficult subject matter of Big Top Burning, school Laura will do up to four presentations
visits are most appropriate for students in grades 5 and up. in one day at the same school or at a
second school in the same district.
Laura is happy to sign books for any students who have
purchased them before the presentation. Parents are often Discounts for multiple presentations are
motivated to purchase the book if advanced orders are organized available:
through a local bookseller. Laura cannot personally bring books 2 presentations = $500
or arrange to sell them at the event. 3 presentations = $800
4 presentations = $1100
Recent Presentations:
Wellesley Middle School, MA Contact: lauraawoollett@gmail.com
New Milford High School, CT
Mark Twain House and Museum, CT
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, CT
Telling True Stories Exploring the Hartford Circus Fire

Through a slide show of her own journey of writing Appropriate for those interested in the history of the
Big Top Burning, Laura will explain how published Hartford circus fire, Laura will use a slide show of
authors conduct research to make true/nonfiction primary source photographs to describe the events
stories come alive. She will share research tips that of the 1944 disaster and conduct an interactive
students can use when they write their own papers discussion of its ongoing mysteries: Was the fire an
and presentations for school as well as techniques for act of arson? Who is the unidentified victim, a child
choosing a topic and stylistic ways to make their nicknamed Little Miss 1565? This presentation is
informational writing interesting. If time and setting based on research conducted for her book, Big Top
permit, students will participate in a group activity of Burning, can be modified for students in grades 5
selecting and narrowing one or more true stories they and up or for adults.
want to learn more about.
Skills: research, analyzing primary sources, making
Skills: research, choosing and narrowing a topic for inferences/drawing conclusions
writing, author’s craft CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1; SL.6.1; SL.7.1;
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W5.5; W.6.5; W.7.5; W.8.5; SL.8.1; SL.9-10.1
W.9-10.8
Other Presentations: Laura has shared the story of the Hartford circus fire with audiences at the Mark
Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, for a chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution, and at various bookstores and libraries. If you would like to hire Laura as a guest speaker for
your organization or event, please contact her directly to discuss the details, including compensation and
book sales.
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- starred review, Booklist

Big Top Burning

Boston/Metrowest, MA area: $300 per

Telling True Stories Exploring the Hartford Circus Fire

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