The Circus Is Coming by Noel Streatfeild

First published: 1938; illustrated

Type of work: Adventure tale

Themes: Family, friendship, travel, and jobs and work

Time of work: The mid-twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: England, various locations

Principal Characters:

• Peter and Santa Possit, brother and sister, orphaned in infancy, nephew and niece of Gus Possit
• Gus Possit, their uncle, an auguste (clown) and trapeze artiste in Cob’s Circus
• Ben Willis, master of the stables in Cob’s Circus who teaches Peter how to ride and care for horses
• Ted Kenet, a trapeze artiste and partner to Gus, who teaches tumbling to Santa

The Story

The Circus Is Coming is about a brother and sister, Peter and Santa Possit, who, since becoming orphaned in infancy, lived with their Aunt Rebecca Possit in London. Though their father was of the servant class and Aunt Rebecca herself was maid to a duchess, she brought them up believing that they were superior to most people. Never allowed to mingle with other children, Peter and Santa were kept secluded in Aunt Rebecca’s house with no friends or relatives with whom to play or from whom to learn.

The story begins when Aunt Rebecca dies suddenly, and the children learn that they are to be placed in separate orphanages. This distresses them greatly and prompts them to run away in search of their Uncle Gus Possit who works in Cob’s traveling circus. Reluctantly, Gus takes them in. The children soon learn that Gus is in many ways the extreme opposite of Aunt Rebecca. Instead of treating Peter and Santa as though they were privileged, Gus expects them to be self-sufficient and to pitch in and help where needed. Learning to do chores such as washing dishes and cooking meals is the first of many adjustments the children have to make before they begin to fit into circus life.

After having spent years in relative isolation with their aunt, a traveling circus is especially magical to Peter and Santa. There is magic in the gaily painted caravans, the colorful costumes of the acrobats and clowns, and the smell of fresh sawdust beneath the big top. For children who have never even been to a zoo, the sight of elephants, lions, and horses is especially enthralling.

As they explore their new home, Peter and Santa quickly forget about their cloistered life in London. They meet many interesting artistes and circus workers, and quickly make friends with other circus children. They also learn that each person in the circus has a job, whether performer or tent hand, but that everyone, regardless of his or her specialty, shares in the hard work of building up and pulling down the circus. This is an especially difficult lesson for Peter and Santa, who had been taught by Aunt Rebecca that physical labor is only for common people.

As the circus makes its spring and summer circuit from Birmingham southward to Wales, the children become less insular and pretentious. Ben Willis, the master of the stables, teaches Peter how to ride and care for the horses. It seems that Peter has a natural affinity for animals, and soon he is made a groom. Santa is eager to learn tumbling, and Ted Kenet, Uncle Gus’s trapeze partner, begins giving her lessons. Sadly for the children, Gus decides at the end of the season that they will have to return to London and face the prospect of being placed in an orphanage, where they can be taught a trade. On the night of the circus’ final performance, however, there is a terrible storm that threatens to destroy the big top. It is then that Peter and Santa heroically prove their devotion and value to the circus. In the exciting conclusion, Peter and Santa put out a fire in the stables and rescue the horses. This act, together with the support and intervention of Ben, Ted, and Mr. Cob himself, convinces Gus that the children have finally found a place where they truly belong.

Context

Noel Streatfeild has been widely credited with being the real initiator of the “career” novel in Ballet Shoes (1936), her first book for young adults. It is the story of three adopted sisters who train for ballet and stage careers at London’s Academy of Dancing. Streatfeild was an actress for ten years before writing her first adult novel The Whicharts (1931), from which she adapted Ballet Shoes for children. In it Streatfeild used her firsthand experiences in the theater to describe realistically the physical and emotional challenges faced by a young person who hopes to dance professionally. In doing so, she unveiled the romantic world of the theater, a subject that until then had been virtually untouched in children’s books. Ballet Shoes was immensely popular when it first appeared, and Streatfeild used much the same format and techniques in her next two children’s novels, Tennis Shoes (1937) and The Circus Is Coming (1938), which was later published in the United States as Circus Shoes (1939). Reviews of The Circus Is Coming were enthusiastic, and the book won Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal as the Best Children’s Book of the Year in 1938.

As with Ballet Shoes, critics of The Circus Is Coming were impressed by her striking portraits of child characters and the realistic behind-the-scenes depiction of circus life. To research her subject, Streatfeild spent months traveling with a circus. The gradual development of the children’s characters is amusing and interesting as Peter and Santa first struggle then excel under the eyes of the reader. The charm of Cob’s Circus, with its layers of glamour, toil, and good faith, is conveyed with simple, precise language.

Streatfeild was to write more than seventy works for adults and children during her career. The so-called shoes series began with Ballet Shoes and was followed by Theatre Shoes (1945), Skating Shoes (1951), and Dancing Shoes (1958), among others. Each of these novels has the same kind of two-fold appeal to children that is seen in The Circus Is Coming: the charm of a glamorous profession and the working out of difficulties encountered by young people who choose nontraditional careers. Always told with warmth and humor but avoiding sentimentality, Streatfeild’s works offer direct insights into and understanding of the problems of growing up.