Olivia's First Term - Stage School

A review on a book by Lyn Gardener. Olivia's First Term is a book related to circus. It includes having courage,determination and trust.



Olivia, a twelve year old girl is with her father, Jack, and her sister, Eel. Her mother, Toni died in a plane crash. Jack used to run a circus and was a high - wire walker. He had stopped walking because he had encountered an accident which did not only break his six rib bones but also his spirit and determination. After that wherever they travelled crowds started to thin down and the people in the circus also left. Jack and his family were left with no money and they were going to Alicia Swan's home. Olivia's grandmother. When they reached there Olivia came to know that her gran runs a stage school and she hates stage schools. But, she is forced to stay there until her father dosent get some money to the family. She dosent like it there while her sister gets on very well.
As we all know, all schools have good students and bad students. It was the same here. There was a student called Katie Wilkes-Cox who was very rich. She didnt like the growing popularity for Olivia and she felt very jealous of her. To put Olivia down she used a girl Georgia's lie to bully her and make her do everything. Olivia asked Georgia to stand up to the truth. But, she realised that both she and Georgia were cowards who couldnt stand up to the truth.
Meanwhile, Eel was getting worried about Olivia's behaviour. Olivia was missing doing her high - wire walking and Eel noticed that. She finds a room which is not usually used and tells Olivia to practice there. Katie sees them and whenever OLivia is free she goes and practices there while Katie spies on her. One day, Tom, one of OLIvia's classmates saw her doing her practice and was impressed by her. He asked her to teach him. OLivia told yes on one condition that he go tell no one about this. Tom was picking up well and very soon Olivia asked him to do double take with him. they started practicing double take.
When Olivia's interest in the class did not vary, one of her teachers took her to see Romeo and Juliet. After the play, he asked her if she had enjoyed it and OLivia said that she had enjoyed the play just like high - wire walking, but in a different way. He also gave her the dialogues of the play. While going to her gran's flat, she tried acting a part and she looked beautiful.
Meanwhile, Olivia's marks were going down and she didnt want to be removed from the the Royal Spectacular Show and that is why she used Georgia to do all her work. Once, Katie passed in the exams nobody could remove her from the Show and exactly the same thing happened.
Olivia asked Tom to practice Romeo and Juliet on the high - wire with her and they did it. Seeing this, Katie got very frustrated and when Olivia and Tom had left, she went in and put in OLivia's bag hervearings studded with real rubies and diamonds because she thought that as there are so many robberies taking place, finding something robbed and that thing found in her bag would make her go out of the school. During a vocal classes, everybody kept their valuable things on the window sill, including Georgia who had got her mother's topaz ring with her. Katie acted as if she is putting her earrings there. During the break, everybody went down to drin some juices , but Olivia stayed back. When they came back, Katie shouted the alarm that her earrings were missing and the teacher told them to look every where.Katie looked into Olivia's bag and found the earrings there and even started telling that she was the one who stayed back in the class during the break. That time, a bird came and took away Georgia's topaz ring. Olivia immediately put the rope around and climbed and got all that what had gone missing. At that moment Miss Swan came in and saw what was going on. After that Katie confessed everything she had done from bullying Georgia to hiding the earrings on Olivia's bag. Miss Swan expeled Katie. Her father tried everything he could but afterwards he realised that everything cannot be done with money. After all that everybody saw Olivia and Tom doing high - wire walking and enacting Romeo and Juliet.
They were waiting for the auditions when Olivia came to know that her father is doing high - wire walking between two buildings which were far apart and the sea was in between them. Olivia somehow saved her father, her father got a lot of money after the act. Olivia and Tom went for the auditions and were chosen and the Queen loved their act.