Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Harper #1

Harper et le parapluie rouge

Rate this book
Once there was a girl named Harper who had a rare musical gift. She heard songs on the wind, rhythms on the rain, and hope in the beat of a butterfly’s wing.

Harper lives in the City of Clouds, an enchanting place where it rains every day and an umbrella is always a good idea. With her Aunt Sassy, her beloved cat, Midnight, and all of her neighbors in the Tall Apartment Block, every day is full of possibility.

But when every cat in the city goes missing—including Midnight—Harper is determined to find all of the precious pets. And she’ll need a magic, flying umbrella to help in her search. Recruiting friends from her building to help, the magic umbrella whisks them into the sky on the trail of the cats and adventure.

They stumble on the Midnight Orchestra—tabbies on triangle, Siamese singing, Persians on piccolo—all under the direction of its fearsome, wild conductor. But can the group use their talents, quick thinking, musical skill, and a little magic to stage a rescue like no other?

Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella is a spellbinding tale of friendship, music, and magic featuring a diverse cast, brought to life through stunning illustrations. A perfect book to be shared and treasured.

150 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published August 31, 2016

31 people are currently reading
880 people want to read

About the author

Cerrie Burnell

27 books42 followers
Cerrie Burnell is one of the UK's best-known children's TV presenters and has in recent years made a name for herself as one of the most exciting new children's authors on the scene. Her picture book Snowflakes was performed at the Oxford Playhouse to great acclaim in 2016 and Harper, her fiction series, has been set to music by the Liverpool Philarmonic Orchestra.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
136 (30%)
4 stars
146 (33%)
3 stars
113 (25%)
2 stars
38 (8%)
1 star
8 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
Profile Image for Calista.
5,433 reviews31.3k followers
March 16, 2018
I loved this little book. Why is no one talking about this!!! I thought it was a picture book and then I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did. There are so many things in this book that are amazing. It is middle grade suggested for ages 7-9, but anyone who loves a warm fuzzy short book will enjoy it.

Harper lives in a world of magic. It is always raining or cloudy. There are flowers that only open in the rain. OK, right here - I love this. This is my kind of world. Harper's mother is a costume designer - love it. Harper has a musical gift that she can play any instrument she picks up with world class musicianship - love this too. Where was this when I was a kid. Being a music geek, I was digging this vibe. Harper loves her pet cat and the cat is musical too. She is left a magic scarlet umbrella by her aunt that is her inheritance. I love this. It's like someone wrote a story just for me.

The villain steals all the cats to create a cat orchestra to get into the circus of dreams. Harper and her fantastic friends set about to rescue all the cats. The magic is fun, the story moves along at a clip and there is so much wonder in this story. I wish I had written it. I will read all of these. All we need is a neighbor that does acupuncture and it's perfect in every way.

This is a great little starter book. I think I am going to read it to my niece. She will love it too. Fantastic!!!
Profile Image for Kerri.
1,105 reviews462 followers
July 14, 2019
3.5
Fun and sweet with absolutely lovely illustrations!
Profile Image for Stacey | prettybooks.
603 reviews1,626 followers
November 29, 2015
As soon as I saw Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella, I had to read it. The lovely illustrations! The cute title! The adorable cat! The yellow raincoat (just like mine)! It's the perfect children's book for me, written by TV presenter Cerrie Burnell and with pictures by one of my favourite children's illustrators, Laura Ellen Anderson. And it was just magical.

'Once there was a girl called Harper who had a rare musical gift. She heard songs on the wind, rhythms on the rain and hope in the beat of a butterfly’s wing.’

Harper lives with her Great Aunt Sassy and black cat Midnight. One day, her beloved umbrella breaks. This is unthinkable in the City of Clouds, where it rains almost every day. Sassy shouts to Harper to use the scarlet umbrella. As she opens it up, Harper discovers that it's no ordinary umbrella – it's magical! Her glee quickly vanishes upon discovering that Midnight is missing, along with the rest of the neighbourhood cats! Off Harper goes on a series of adventures to find the cats, with a little help from the scarlet umbrella.

Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella is a pure delight. It's colourful and lyrical, with a lovely amount of detail about the City of Clouds. I particularly enjoyed reading about the different kinds of rain! It also features one of my favourite illustrations in children's lit so far: a spread of the cats playing in the Midnight Orchestra, which is just glorious. Harper is a dedicated and brave young girl, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing cats. But she doesn't mind asking for help. I adored Harper's new best friend Nate, who is visually impaired, and his loyal wolf Smoke, as well as the other helpful children that find Harper along the way.

Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella is a wonderful children's story about friendship, cats and celebrating a love of music. I loved it so much that even though I borrowed it from Jim, I now have my own copy! I can't wait for Harper and the Sea of Secrets , one of the World Book Day 2016 books, and the next book in the series, Harper and the Circus of Dreams .

I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.
Profile Image for Allison.
306 reviews45 followers
April 7, 2017
This is just a great book!

This is the first real chapter book that I have read with my six year old. I won it in a giveaway (which I'm so grateful for!) and so thought we'd give it a go.

Well, it was fantastic! Adventurous, magical, with a starring girl, surrounded by music, cats and a mystery to solve. I just adored every page. And the pictures are really, really great.

Thank you for this! A fantastic read for little ones, and if she were just a little older, she could read it herself. I highly recommend it!
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews454 followers
February 14, 2016
A very magical book about a girl, her cat and a magical Scarlet Umbrella!

I really loved the book, but I have one thing I didn't like. It felt a bit rushed at times. We have a start, Harper gets the magical umbrella, but loses her cat and then instead of her finding out more about the umbrella we are thrown head first into a story about a scary man stealing cats. The umbrella is still featured, but it just felt a bit odd. I just wish we would have first found out about the umbrella, get a part about her figuring out how it worked, see her cat, and then the cat would disappear. Now I just mostly didn't even care about the cat as we never saw him until we met the evil guy, and even then it was just that we saw the cat from afar.

But other than this, the story was really magical, and while it did speed at a high pace, I did like it for most of the time, even though I had to backtrack at times to see if I didn't miss anything.

Harper was a great character, strong, never giving up, and she has a real gift for making friends. She was really sweet towards all of them.

I loved the friends, and that even though their roles were small, they did big things to help out Harper. Help get their cats back. Even the one girl who didn't like cats helped out (though I guess that was mostly because she loves adventures).

I am quite curious to see some more books about Harper and her magical umbrella. To find out more about who was the first owner, to find out more about Harper. Hoping she will be making more adventures soon.

The illustrations were really great and I enjoyed looking at them when they popped up in the book. I also loved the little paw prints that were dotted over the pages, and the little cat (Midnight) that was placed above the chapter's titles. Sooo adorable. <3

All in all, this is one book I would surely recommend to everyone!

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Profile Image for Stay Fetters.
2,520 reviews197 followers
May 21, 2017
"Music is the magic that soothes the soul."

Harper and the Scarlet Umbrella was one of those books that looked adorable. The illustrations along with a magical musical story about instrument playing cats and an umbrella that lifts you up into the sky seemed enchanting and whimsical.

I just didn't read it that way. It was a tad bit boring and the information leading up to certain points just fly right by without capturing your attention. I'm honestly sad that this wasn't one that made me want to continue the journey of this magical umbrella. It seems that this is where Harper, Midnight and I part.
Profile Image for Robbi C.
280 reviews19 followers
September 11, 2017
I thought this was kind of slow and a bit boring. As slow as the plot was, I thought maybe we'd get to really know the characters well or dig into some world-building. But it fell flat for me. All of those things are done but not enough to make me feel excited or engaged. Since this is the first book in a series, maybe it gets better in the following books. I will find out because even though it wasn't my fave, my 6 year old enjoyed it and would like to read more.
Profile Image for Marruix.
40 reviews
February 12, 2020
M'ha agradat els temes tractat: la màgia, la música, els moixos...
L'obra té un caràcter i un to humorístic i m'ho he passat molt bé llegint-la.
Els personatges que més m'han agradat són na Harper i el seu moix.

Ainhoa Santibáñez (5è primària)
Profile Image for Storywraps.
1,968 reviews39 followers
March 22, 2017
Harper lives in an apartment block, in the City of Clouds, where it rains every single day. She is a very talented little girl. She has a special gift of being able to play any instrument perfectly without one lesson.


‘Once there was a girl called Harper who had a rare musical gift. She heard songs on the wind, rhythms on the rain and hope in the beat of a butterfly’s wing.’


One day her cat Midnight goes missing. Harper goes around to the adjoining apartments to ask if anyone has seen her beloved pet. To her astonishment she discovers that all the cats in the neighbourhood have mysteriously vanished. All the kids in the block team up to help solve the mystery of the disappearing felines. With the help of a her Great Aunt Sassy's magical umbrella and the collaborative help of her friends they solve the mystery.

I really enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The writing is beautiful. It's a lyrical tale filled with many diverse and adorable characters that kids will relate to. I especially liked the fact that Harper connected so well to Nate, who is visually impaired, and to his wolf companion Smoke. The story weaves together the elements of friendship, music, magic and the celebration of the love of cats. Other books to check out by the author are: "Harper and the Sea of Secrets", and the next book in the series,"Harper and the Circus of Dreams". If I was still actively teaching I would definitely have this book in my classroom and in the school library. I highly, highly recommend this book. It's a winner.
Profile Image for Sally.
102 reviews
December 4, 2015
A beautifully illustrated, lyrical tale about a girl, her cat and a magical scarlet umbrella.

Harper is able to make music from any instrument and can hear the music in the stars. When her cat, Midnight, and all the others go missing from Cloud City she sets out to find them with her magical umbrella.

At times the story rushed ahead faster than I would like, we didn't learn much about her umbrella and she didn't seem to need to learn how to use it. But the tale of how she rescues the cats with music, instruments strung below her flying umbrella is a charming read.

I was also impressed by the character Nate, who is visually impaired, and has a wolf friend. He naturally fits into the story, and it's very helpful to have a friend who isn't afraid of the dark.

Profile Image for Virginia.
1,234 reviews
January 12, 2018
Won from Publisher via Goodreads Giveaway

3.5 stars?

This was charming, and diverse, but more sinister than I was expecting. Still, I want to read the next adventure, and share them with my 7-year-old niece:)
Profile Image for Nina.
570 reviews53 followers
February 19, 2017
Mediocre for a children book, the illustrations are pretty, though.
Profile Image for Galleane.
1,507 reviews157 followers
February 24, 2017
Un récit jeunesse avec lequel j'ai eu beaucoup de mal. Le ton du livre ne m'a pas du tout parlé ni convenu. Les dessins sont par contre plein de mignonitude.
Non chroniqué sur mon blog.
Profile Image for Lesa.
495 reviews3 followers
December 31, 2018
I read this aloud to my 8 and 10 yr old daughters at bedtime. Honestly I didn't get much out of it, but my girls absolutely loved it. My 8 yr old is super picky about books, and she couldn't wait for me to read more. 👍 I found this on Hoopla. There are 2 more of the series on there, so I'm sure I'll be reading them shortly. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #kiddielit
Profile Image for Iraa ☘️.
120 reviews
February 22, 2025
Whew! It felt so long despite one of the shortest read I had this year, maybe I'd have liked it as a child, but as an adult it felt boring and makes me sleep, the paced slow as a sloth too 💤

3.25
Profile Image for Erin Buhr.
Author 4 books41 followers
April 5, 2017
There are so many things I loved about this book. I loved the creativity used to create Harper's rainy world. I loved the diverse interesting characters. I loved the use of magic and music. HARPER AND THE SCARLET UMBRELLA is a story of adventure, magic, and friendship. Harper is a musically gifted little girl who upon discovering that the cats are missing from her apartment building gathers a group of kids and sets out to get back her beloved cat. Along the way she discovers a magical umbrella, a troubled ex-circus performer, a cat orchestra, and some wonderful friends. The story is told with an enchanting use of language that adds to the mystical quality of the story. There is a musicality to it that fits with the overarching theme of the book. However, there are times when I believe the author got lost in her beautiful words and the story takes a momentary backseat, as did the attention of my young audience when reading this aloud. She quickly rallies though and the colorful characters and their exciting adventure win in the end. This was a charming story and I look forward to reading even more Harper adventures.
Profile Image for Ritja.
620 reviews
September 13, 2016
Rezension für dt.-sprachiges Hörbuch

Scarlet und ihr roter Zauberschirm ist eine niedliche Geschichte rund um Katzen, Zauber, Freundschaft und Musik. Die Geschichte ist leicht zu verfolgen und dank der vielen Kapitel ist es auch leicht immer wieder in die Geschichte einzusteigen. Die Charaktere sind kindgerecht und einfach gehalten, jedoch fand ich das Lachen von Scarlet zu gekünstelt. Ein "echtes" Kinderlachen wäre schöner gewesen. Gut haben uns die eingefügten Melodien gefallen. Leider wurden diese nur im Hintergrund gespielt und meistens von der Sprecherin verdrängt. Zum Träumen und als kleine Verschnaufpause für zwischendurch wären längere Musikstücke ohne Text oder Stimme gut gewesen. Das Abschlußlied war gut, aber auch hier hatte ich nicht das Gefühl, dass das Lied von einem Kind gesungen wird. Es wirkte wieder zu künstlich und aufgesetzt.
Insgesamt ist es eine schöne Geschichte, die Spaß macht und so manchen Regentag bunter gestalten kann.
Profile Image for Zaz.
1,932 reviews60 followers
September 27, 2016
A nice adventure for young readers, with cats and music.

Harper's cat is missing, as the other cats in her building. With other kids and with the help of her magic scarlet umbrella and her music talent, she'll try to rescue her pet.

I enjoyed the musical tone of the book, the cute pictures and the touch of magic. The characters were simple, but with diversity and various personalities. The friendship was palpable and sweet, working well, and the antagonist man wasn't frightening or bad at all, which was an unusual and welcome decision. The story would work better with the youngest readers, as everything was gentle and easy, on my adult side it was a pleasant adventure but nothing enthralling.
Profile Image for Erin.
176 reviews19 followers
September 4, 2017
"Once there was a girl called Harper who had a rare musical gift. She heard songs on the wind, rhythms on the rain, and hope in the beat of a butterfly's wings."

Harper lives in Cloud City with her Great Aunt Sassy. When Harper's umbrella gets ruined Sassy tells her to use the scarlet one. The scarlet umbrella isn't like any normal umbrella, perhaps that's why Sassy keeps it locked in a cage. As soon as Harper opens the umbrella she embarks on a magical adventure to save the cats of Cloud City from the Wild Conductor.

As soon as I saw the cover to this book I knew that I had to read it. Laura Ellen Anderson's whimsical illustrations are a wonderful addition to the magical story created by Cerrie Burnell. I hope that Burnell has more adventures in store for Harper and her friends.
Profile Image for Marianne Brouwer.
158 reviews2 followers
October 1, 2017
Waarom kan ik het ene jeugdboek in één adem uitlezen en vind ik een ander verhaal gewoon niet goed? Het zit hem in geloofwaardigheid en plotkeuzes. Dit verhaal kon mij niet boeien, ik vond
de verhaalwendingen te lief en te halfzacht. Ook te uitwerking van de personages vond ik niet goed. Van mij mag een slechterik echt slecht zijn en niet ook een beetje lief.
Verder deed het vliegen met het parapluutje mij teveel denken aan Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins.
Misschien is dat voor Britse kinderen wel leuk om te lezen?
Profile Image for C.
149 reviews19 followers
July 14, 2016
One of the best things about this book is that there's a Cat Orchestra. Can you imagine that!!!

Fantastic book, about a girl called Harper, with a umbrella called Scarlet and a cat called Midnight. Loved reading this book; mainly because I'm cat obsessed! I loved Harper because she's really good at playing musical instruments and always does the right thing. She is kind and saves cats. My kind of girl!
221 reviews35 followers
February 3, 2017
Finished this book in a go. I wish I could read all my books like this. Anyway, the story is... full of magic, the kind that dismiss common-sense, I didn't encoutered many children books like this. I like the illustration so much which is the main reason I bought the book. I wish it's in colors though, I read the one translated to my native, so I don't know if actually it does have colors. Seems like this is the first book of many. Maybe. Hopefully.
Profile Image for Dominique Valente.
Author 17 books184 followers
September 18, 2017
This was such a lovely book, from the beautiful illustrations, to Cerrie Burnell's gorgeous, whimsical writing. It's the sort of story you read with a smile on your face, Harper with her cute little scarlet umbrella - the different types of rain, the cat Midnight, the music, the characters - just a sheer delight
Profile Image for Von.
258 reviews8 followers
May 6, 2021
My daughter read this last night and She said she totally enjoyed this book.

I also read this today, And I also enjoyed this quick read. Definitely going to get the other books as well of this series.
Profile Image for LudmilaM.
1,211 reviews18 followers
December 28, 2016
Writing in places beautifully poetic.
btw only after I finished the book I realized the title is Harper and the SCARLET umbrella, not SECRET umbrella. And the whole time I wondered what is so secret about it..
Profile Image for Medeia Sharif.
Author 19 books458 followers
August 11, 2017
This is a cute story sure to enchant children. There are cats, magic, fantastic illustrations, great characters, and a good plot. This is a book I would have snatched up right away in my childhood.It seems irresistible with its cover and description, and it doesn't disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.