Every kid dreams of running off to join the circus. Ironically, Victoria Cristiani Rossi ran away from her life in the circus.

Vivian Manning-Schaffel: A descendant of five generations of circus performers, this mom of two's recently released book, Spangles, Elephants, Violets and Me: The Circus Inside Out, is chock-full of real-life circus tales, like the time she was nearly trampled by elephants at the age of 19.

"The audience was filled with Hollywood movie stars. Lucille Ball and her children, James Garner, Cesar Romero -- all those people had visited the circus when it opened in L.A. in 1959," recalls Rossi. "After the first pose with the elephants in a trunk-up salute to the audience, I got in the trunk of one called Mary and they started to waltz. She was spinning, and my fingers got caught in a brand-new, chrome-chain harness, and they got pinched. Blood was coming down my hand and I lost my grip, and luckily, she sensed something, and no one would ever imagine them doing this because they don't lower their trunks, but she did, and it gave me an opportunity to get out of the ring, and I landed in a slew of steaks. My left leg hit the ring curb going out, so I had multiple fractures. Had I fallen inside the ring, I would've been trampled to death!"

This injury left Rossi in need of multiple surgeries. She is still unable to walk without a slight limp today, although, she says with a chuckle, "I walk pretty normally in high heels."

The Cristiani family had performed all over Italy and Europe for generations. When Hitler came into power, the Ringling Brothers circus made relentless efforts to bring the Cristianis over to the Greatest Show on Earth. Eventually, they sailed off the coast of England to the U.S., directly to a performance at Madison Square Garden, and on to all points west -- including Alaska, before it was declared a state.

Rossi's father discouraged his daughter from following a rogue life in his footsteps, so she was educated at Catholic boarding schools. But she and her sisters spent summers riding elephants and doing aerial stunts for eager fans. This taught her a thing or two about people that she was proud to pass onto her own children. "As a result of traveling, I learned how to understand people from all races and all walks of life. I've always had a love of people, and have been a real people person. That was the greatest gift I got from the circus and traveling from one end of the country to another," says Rossi.

If you were ever a kid who loved the circus, pick up her book and grab a slice of Americana from yesteryear. "Regardless of what people feel about the circus, it was an important part of Americana and I tell that story," says Rossi. "I hold readers' hands and bring them in through the back circus lot!"

Vivian Manning-Schaffel has written for Babble, Parenting, The Advocate, The New York Post, Business Week and a variety of other publications and lives and works in the heart of breeder Brooklyn with her husband and two kids. She authors two pop culture blogs: The Mad Mom and A Hag Supreme, and is on the web at vivianmanningschaffel.com.