Harper 02 – Harper and the Circus of Dreams

Cerrie Burnell's Harper and the Circus of Dreams is a magical, music-filled adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who flies on a scarlet umbrella.

What happens

It's the second Harper book. Harper lives with Great Aunt Sassy in the Tall Apartment Block in the City of Clouds, where it rains every day in lots of different ways. She can play any instrument. Her cat Midnight always seems to know where she'll be.

And nobody knows where Harper came from. Five years ago, on the night of the Fearsome Storm, a little girl turned up on the roof with a note and an umbrella. That was her.

Now another strange storm blows in, full of wind that sings like birds. Up in the clouds, Harper and the gang spot a girl running across the sky. Her name is Skylar. She's a storm-stirrer from the Circus of Dreams, which floats on balloons and moves on when the wind changes.

So of course they go. Nate and his wolf Smoke lead the way through the fog (Nate can't see much, but he doesn't need to). Liesel wants to be a mouse. Ferdie scribbles poems. Inside there's a baker whose harp-shaped biscuits fill your head with music, a fortune teller with a crystal ball, a boy who trains rats and a woman who sings as she swings on a trapeze into a pool.

And something about the whole place feels oddly familiar to Harper.

It's a very dreamy read. Everything is a little bit magic, from the names of the clouds to a cup of tea that tastes of a memory. It's lovely read aloud, and the friendships are sweet without being soppy.

If you've got a reader who loves a mystery about someone's past, this one keeps its secret nicely. There are sad moments when Harper thinks about the family she's never known. There's also lots of warmth from the neighbours who've brought her up, who'll drop everything to help.

What to read next

If they haven't met her yet, the first Harper book is Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella. It's the one where every cat in the city goes missing, Midnight included, and the umbrella flies for the very first time.