One night Harold, with his trusty purple crayon, goes for a walk on a tightrope. Down he falls into a circus complete with trapeze, clowns, and lion tamers.

Harold wants to go for a walk in the moonlight, but there is no moon, so he draws one. He has nowhere to walk, so he draws a path. He has many adventures looking for his room, and in the end he draws his own house and bed and goes to sleep.

The imaginative adventures with the magical purple crayon continue in this fifth picture-book chronicling Harold's creative play, as the young toddler, drawing himself a high-wire, walks out into blank space. Tumbling from his precarious perch, he quickly draws a soft curve upon which to land, finding himself cradled in the trunk of an elephant. Things progress from there, and soon Harold is creating and performing in his own circus, acting the clown, shooting out of a canon, and keeping his teeming audience happy.

First published in 1959, Harold's Circus is very much in the style of its predecessors, with simple text and spare artwork. Like Crockett Johnson's other books, it offers a brilliant depiction of a young child's imaginative life, in which the child himself creates his own adventures, by drawing them into existence. The circus element here is a little dated - I don't care for circuses with performing animals, myself - although that's to be expected, I suppose, in a children's book published in the late 1950s. Leaving that issue aside, this is just a charming addition to the series! Recommended to all fans of Harold, and of his purple crayon. ( )

I LOVED this series as a kid. ( )

FROM LIBRARY CATALOG:
Harold goes for an adventurous walk on a tightrope and through a circus with his purple crayon.