Circus Shoes

By Noel Streatfeild

Winner of the Carnegie Medal: Threatened with being sent to separate orphanages, a brother and sister run away and join the circus

When the aunt who raised them dies, 12-year-old Peter and his 11-year-old sister, Santa, face their greatest fear: being sent to separate orphanages. Vowing to stay together, they track down their only remaining relative.
 
Uncle Gus, the black sheep of the family, has been with Cob’s Circus since the war. Peter and Santa arrive just in time to see the caravans pull up. Almost before their eyes, the tents appear and an extraordinary world comes to life. They meet Alexsis Petoff and his family of acrobats; the Schmidt twins and their amazing sea lions; Lorenzo, the ornery waltzing-horse; and a trick poodle named Mis. Soon, Santa is practicing tumbling and Peter is learning to ride. They feel like they are part of the circus community. But life under the big top is hard work, and Santa and Peter will have to rise to the challenge or leave the one place they can finally call home.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504021067

Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild, the plain middle child between two talented and pretty sisters, trained at RADA and acted for nine years before writing Ballet Shoes, an instant bestseller, in 1936. As vicarage daughter, factory girl, actress, model, social worker, writer, and crusader for good books, Noel touched many aspects of life. Her experiences enriched her stories, which were so popular that, by her eightieth birthday, she had earned herself the title of ‘a national monument’. She died in 1986.

Reviews for Circus Shoes

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An orphaned brother and sister run away from the prospect of being sent to separate orphanages and to their uncle, who works as a clown in a circus. They spend their summer traveling with the circus and hoping that they can win their way into their uncle's good graces and so stay with him once the tenting season is over.Slow moving in places, but still a comfy little read.

[maureene87 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It wasn’t her best, but it was a little less predictable than, say, Family Shoes. There was one passage about Pascha that I loved, even if Streatfeild got a few facts wrong. [Mar. 2010]