Never Quote the Weather to a Sea Lion (and other uncommon tales from the founder of the Big Apple Circus) is a celebration of Paul Binder's life in and around the circus. Drawing on thirty-five years with the show he created, the Big Apple Circus' founder and founding Artistic Director invites us inside the fence every kid peers through for an intimate look at the uncommon life of circus artists, their animal partners, and the roustabouts who spend their days in a world that is both close-knit and international, high-minded and low comedy, death-defying and ludicrous.

Never Quote the Weather to a Sea Lion (and other uncommon tales from the founder of the Big Apple Circus) balances the weird and the workaday, the curious and the commonplace, the exhilaration and the exhaustion of life in the circus, with simple portrayals of ordinary people going about the business of achieving the extraordinary.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries African and pseudo-African performers were displayed as curiosities throughout Europe and America. Appearing in circuses, ethnographic exhibitions, and traveling shows, these individuals and troupes drew large crowds. As Bernth Lindfors shows, the showmen, impresarios, and even scientists who brought supposedly representative inhabitants of the ""Dark Continent"" to a gaping public often selected the performers for their sensational impact. Spotlighting and exaggerating physical, mental, or cultural differences, the resulting displays reinforced pernicious racial stereotypes and left a disturbing legacy. Using period illustrations and texts, Early African Entertainments Abroad illuminates the mindset of the era's largely white audiences as they viewed wax models of Africans with tails and watched athletic competitions showcasing hungry cannibals. White spectators were thus assured of their racial superiority. And blacks were made to appear less than fully human precisely at the time when abolitionists were fighting to end slavery and establish equality.

It a special day The circus is in town and Pinky's dad is taking her and her brother, Peter, plus her friend Mary, under the big top. The children are awed by all of the wonderful circus acts. From the lion tamer to the high-wire, the trapeze and all the clowns, Pinky and the gang have a great time. Every part of the performance enthralls the youngsters, from beginning to end. When the show is over, the kids are already anticipating going again when the circus comes back to town next year Pinky Visits the Circus will have you recalling your own trips to see the marvelous shows under the big tent

Clowning Glory is the ideal resource book for would-be clowns of all ages - from the youngest tot to the most elderly totterer. With over 200 tips and ideas, from acrobats to zoo games, this A-Z of clowning provides a wealth of material for use in churches, youth groups, children's clubs and street theatre.