The Flamingo Club

Women and Children Jugglers featured in Books

Kiddie Lit – Juggling Books for Pre-Cascaders

Eclectic Books for Jugglers Young and Old

Ackerman, Karen. Song and Dance Man. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. Grandpa demonstrates for his visiting grandchildren some of the songs, dances, and jokes he performed when he was a vaudeville entertainer.

Albrecht, Ernest. The New American Circus. Gainesville, FL, 1995. This important book about the “new American circus” includes photos of Hovey Burgess, Larry Pisoni, Peggy Snider, Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco, Big Apple Circus in New York City, Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, Circus Flora in St. Louis, The Flying Cranes, Montreal’s Ecole Nationale du Cirque (National Circus School.), Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Vidbel Olde Tyme Circus, and Bill Irwin.

Bridwell, Norman. Clifford at the Circus.  New York: Scholastic Inc., 1985. Clifford, the big red dog, helps out at the circus. This is one of at least 26 books about Clifford.

Cushman, Kathleen, Miller, Montana. Circus Dreams The Making of a Circus Artist. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990 .Montana Miller’s first year of training as a trapeze artist at the National Center for Circus Arts in France.  Montana learns to juggle, pictures of classmates Franck, Vincent, Nikolaus, Thierry, Joel and Montana juggling.

Drake, Sylvie. Cirque Du Soleil. Quebec, Canada: Productions Du Cirque Du Soleil, Inc., 1993. The first ten years of Cirque Du Soleil.  There is a picture of a juggler backstage on page 91. This is a photo history of Cirque Du Soleil 1982-1994.  “My First Experience in a Circus” by Sonia St-Martin pg. 108.

Dugan, Barbara. Loop the Loop. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1992. A young girl and an old woman form a friendship that lasts even after the woman enters a nursing home. The old woman and girl perform yo-yo tricks.

Falconer, Ian. Olivia Saves the Circus. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. At school, Olivia, the pig, tells about her summer vacation and how, when she went to the circus and all the performers were out sick, she saved the day, becoming Olivia the juggler, and more. For ages 3-7. Books about Olivia are bestsellers.

Geisel, Theodor Seuss. If I Ran the Circus.  New York: Random House, 1956. Dr. Seuss  writes about The Circus McGurkus.

Golden Books, 2003. Dora the Explorer The Circus Lion.  This title is a coloring book with a lion juggling 8 balls, 6 hot dogs, and five balls.

Harris, Leon. The Moscow Circus School New York: Atheneum, 1970. Students of the Moscow Circus School studied acrobatics, gymnastics, balancing and juggling. There are photos of students juggling on pages 26-27.

Jordan, Denise M. Circus Performers Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library, 2002.Some photos of jugglers. Circus Performers is a book for young children.

Keen, Sam. Learning to Fly Trapeze – Reflections on Fear, Trust, and the Joy of Letting Go. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. Sam learned to fly on the trapeze at age 61 at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts.  Sam Keen visited many trapeze troupes. The acknowledgments list some trapeze resources

McCully, Emily Arnold. Mirette on the High Wire. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992. This book won the Caldecott Medal. Mirette learns tightrope walking from Monsieur Bellini, a guest in her mother’s boarding house, not knowing that he is a celebrated tightrope artist who has withdrawn from performing because of fear. This book has a sequel.

McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. Sawdust in his Shoes. New York: Junior Literary Guild and Coward-McCann, Inc., 1950. This is a  fiction story about Joe Lang’s life as a bareback rider at age 15. This book was chosen as an outstanding book for older readers by the Junior Literary Guild. This was Eloise Jarvis McGraw’s first juvenile novel. She later wrote two Newbery Honor books: Moccasin Trail and The Golden Goblet.

Mermin, Rob. Circus Smirkus: A True Story of High Adventure and Low Comedy. Greensboro, VT. Photos, anecdotes, interviews covering the first 10 years of Circus Smirkus written by the founder.

Milliman, Isaac. Moses Goes to the Circus. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Moses, who is deaf, has a good time with his family at Big Apple Circus of the Senses, where they communicate using ASL sign language. Includes illustrations of some of the signs they use including the word juggler. Other books in this series include: Moses Goes to School and Moses Goes to a Concert.

Powledge, Fred. Born on the Circus. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.  This story is about Armando Cristiani’s life at age eleven on the Hoxie Brothers Circus. This book has many photos of Armando juggling.

Saulnier, Karen Luczak. Circus Time.Washington, D.C.: Kendall Green Publications, 1976. This book has simple Signed English signs, pictures and text for young deaf children.18 pgs.

Circus Smirkus under the Big Top. Photos by Frank Molinski. Greensboro, VT: Circus Smirkus, 2003. More than 100 color photos from Smirkus tours: 2000-2002. 32  pgs.

Shirk, Jeanette C. Bela. The Juggler. Los Angeles, Suttonhouse Ltd., 1936.  A fiction story about a boy juggler and magicians. 67 pgs.

Slobodkina, Esphyr. Circus Caps for Sale.U.S.: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. A peddler who sells caps by balancing them all on his head is invited to do an act in the circus. This book is a companion to the classic Caps for Sale.

Sugarman, Robert. Circus for Everyone Circus Learning Around the World. Shaftsbury, VT: Mountainside Press, 2001. A great resource book covering professional circuses, circus schools, touring youth circuses, community circuses, circus camps, circus residencies, in school programs, year-round independent circus programs, extracurricular and curricular college circuses and four case histories of circus learning. The book also includes a resource guide, glossary, and bibliography. The case histories include: juggler Armando Cristiani, Shirley Earl, planges Ekaterina Odintsova and tight wire walker Molly Saudek.

Towsen, John H. Clowns. This book is subtitled a Panoramic History of Fools and Jesters, Medieval Mimes, Jongleurs and Minstrels, Pueblo Indian Delight Makers and Cheyenne Contraries, Harlequins and Pierrots, Theatrical Buffoons and Zanies, Circus Tramps, Whitefaces, and Augustes. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1976.  This book is a comprehensive survey of the clown throughout history. This book mentions salon jugglers, W.C. Fields juggling and tramp jugglers.

Avi. Crispin the Cross of Lead. New York: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, 2002. Crispin, a poor 13 year old peasant, travels with a juggler named Bear in 1377 A.D. England. This best seller book for ages 10-14 won the 2003 Newbery Medal. Avi is a well known author of more than 50 books. This book includes a historical note, glossary, and author interview.

Babinski, Tony.  Cirque Du Soleil  20 Years under the Sun. An authorized history. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2004. 352 page book with more than 300 photographs, 275 in color. The text covers the early years, the expanding years, and from 2000 to Zumanity.

Beak, Nick Huckleberry.  Juggling Fun. New York: Lorenz Books, 1996. Multicultural children teach how to juggle.

Ehrlich, Amy. Lucy’s Winter Tale. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1992. Library of Congress summary: Lucy is kidnapped by Ivan the juggler who includes her in his miniature circus as he travels to a new town in search of his sweetheart Martina. The book includes two illustrations of Ivan juggling including a magic juggle of a teapot and two cups and a four ball juggle with four spinning rings.

Jackson, Kathryn. The Golden Circus.  New York: Random House, 1950. This is a classic Golden Fuzzy book featuring illustrations of Caldecott Medalists.

Johnson, Crockett. Harold’s Circus.  Harper Collins, 1959.  New York Times review: “Harold goes for a walk on a tightrope and tumbles smack into a circus. Under the big top Harold is at the top of his form.” This book is a sequel to Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Murray, Peter. You Can Juggle. The Child’s World Inc., 1993. Summary: Explains various techniques in learning how to juggle. “Incredibly Clumsy Friend Ralph” learns to juggle. Teaches cascade, shower, 2 balls in one hand, 4 ball juggling. 

Pleasants, Paul. Juggling Skills. Top That! Publishing, 2003. Contents:  Simple juggling with cubes, clubs and rings. The book comes with four juggling cubes. The text includes photos of youngsters juggling.

Redbank, Tennant. JoJo’s Circus Clown School. New York: Disney Enterprises, Inc., 2005. JoJo’s Circus is inside Playhouse Disney on Disney Channel. An easy read book.

Silverberg, Robert. Lord Valentine’s Castle. Harper Collins Publishers, 1979-1980. Valentine joins a band of four armed jugglers and sets out with the troop on an epic journey. Acknowledgments “for assistance with the technical aspects of juggling in this novel I am indebted to Catherine Crowell of San Francisco and to those extraordinary performers the Flying Karamazov Brothers”.  This book is a science fantasy classic.

Spier, Peter. Circus! New York: Dell Dragonfly Books, 1992.  This book is for ages 5-9. The author had the help of New York’s Big Apple Circus. Peter Spier is a prolific writer of children’s books.

Stillinger, Doug.  The Klutz Book of Ball Games. CA: Klutz, 2005.  The book teaches 25 ball games and comes with a can of three balls: Whirly Ball, Tennis Ball and Super Pink. The same company also publishes the classic Juggling for the Complete Klutz. Be sure to send away for the Klutz catalog.

Temple, Nancy Marie, Aronson, Rande. Juggling is for me. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1986. Young jugglers, Nathan and Kari, explain the history and demonstrate the techniques of juggling along with their friend, pro juggler Rande Aronson.

Vial,Veronique. Cirque du Soleil: Varekai.  The 141 color photographs are by Veronique Vial; text by Kerry Fleming. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2003. The Varekai show premiered April 24, 2002 in Montreal. It was written and directed by Dominic Champagne. The photos include one of a juggler juggling clubs and other photos of foot juggling in “Icarian Games.”

Willhoite, Michael.  The Entertainer A Story in Pictures. Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, 1992. The only gay juggling story this reviewer has seen. The author uses only pictures to tell the story of Alex, a talented boy who loves to juggle.

Ziethen, Karl Heinz. Jongleur Juggler Cartoons. Berlin: Verlag Rausch & Luft, Publishers: 1988.  This small book is a collection of juggling cartoons from the Ziethen collection.

Ziethen, Karl Heinz. Enrico Rastelli   Francis Brunn   Sergei Ignatow [sic] Anthony Gatto The World [sic] Greatest Jugglers. Berlin: 1996. Contents also include a sketch of Egyptian women jugglers, and photos of Lottie Brunn, Nathalie Enterline, and Violetta Kiss.

-- compiled by Mary Wilkins