The Girl Who Walked on Air

Emma Carroll's The Girl Who Walked on Air is a circus adventure for 10 year olds about a girl who's been secretly teaching herself the tightrope.

What happens

Louie was a baby when she was left at Chipchase's Circus. Her mam dropped her off the way most people forget an umbrella (her words!) and never came back. Now she sells tickets, mends costumes and longs to be a star.

Mr Chipchase won't hear of it. She's too young, he says, never mind that the ringmaster is her age.

Then, on the very first night of the story, Jasper falls. He's the trapeze artist Louie lives with, and he misses the bar on a brand-new triple somersault. He lives, but his performing days are over. And now the circus needs a new showstopper.

Louie knows exactly who that should be. She's been practising at dawn on a rope tied between two trees, with only her dog Pip for an audience. Her hero is the Great Blondin, who crossed Niagara Falls on a rope, and she keeps his picture in a scrapbook under her mattress.

She's very easy to love. She's proud, quick-tempered and funny, and she tells the story just like a circus girl would ("ain't", "the punters", "awful smart"). The circus feels real too, with sawdust, horse sweat and gingerbread in the air. You can almost hear the drum roll.

Plenty of people are making her life hard. Kitty the knife-thrower calls her "weasel". A busybody from a society for good behaviour is sniffing around. And a flashy rival circus, Wellbeloved's, is stealing all their crowds. Its owner will later offer Louie the chance to walk over Niagara herself...

The fall comes in chapter one and it's frightening. For a while everyone thinks Jasper is dead, and afterwards Louie helps the doctor pull his broken leg straight while he screams. Children who are upset by injuries might like to know it's coming. It's over quickly, and Jasper is soon sitting up and teasing her about her dog act.

If you've got a reader who dreams big and hates being told they're too young, they'll be cheering Louie on.

What to read next

If they love a girl who wants to fly, Sky Chasers follows Magpie, a young thief in France who gets lifted clean off her feet by a strange new flying machine.