I'm considering setting up as a childrens entertainer, so I purchased a good few books. This is without doubt the best of the bunch.

The book covers lots of aspects of clowning, gives great ideas, and is an easy read.

The only downside is that it does not have space to go as in depth in some areas as I would of liked - but there are plenty of speciality books to do so.

Every hobby has one or two definative books. This is it for clowning. Everything I wanted to find out and more. Like any good reference book it started me down the path and I have read several books recommended.

If you are going to get into clowning you need this book.

Having read four customer reviews of this book, I might have had high expectations. Maybe I didn't realize it's true value at first, but after learning various skills, you may want to try others, which didn't catch your interest at first. Then you realize how powerful a tool this book is.

Until now I've focused on juggling and unicycling. The book not only teaches you how to ride a unicycle, -it also provides a lot of amusing variations. Though I knew how to ride before buying this book, it taught me how to ride in a very ridiculous way, seemingly out of control. I've experienced a tremendous effect when acting upon these hints in front of an audience. ...

Just recently I grew interested in the stiltwalking sections and made a pair of wooden tie-on stilts. I'm not exactly an engineer, but following the instructions, all I needed was a saw, some wood, a drill, some glue, some bolts and screws.

Reading the ingenious instructions given sometimes make me laugh out loud, thinking of how it would work in real life. The illustrations are really amusing, and I do enjoy all the hints on starting a clowning business. Lots of detailed information.

Also, the book is packed with numerous jokes and material that can be used for shows. The next stage for me will be learning how to twist balloons into different animal shapes.

I was actually looking for a book on how to put on clowns' make-up for my unicycling. This book is all you need to know about various types of make-up for various clown types, plus so much more. If you're thinking about clowning, either for fun or for money, I highly recommend this book!

I have some essays in it, but the total content is 1st rate.I recently reviewed it for a talk on the local radio. BUT no mention of children in the war.

"City of A Hundred Fires" is a strong, but predictable first book. Several of the key narrative poems in this collection seem more sugary than they are honest. One poem, or short sequence of poems, "What Las Palmas Mean" reveal the type of juvenile naivete and seemingly contrived sentimentality that Mr. Blanco's volume exudes as a whole. The title poem "City of A Hundred Fires" is moving, but not enough to make the collection resound with the profound poetic maturity and accuity that a theme such as "exile" and a people's dislocation demands. David Mura, another contemporary poet, is a good example of someone who has treated exile and an impersonal hurt in a ingenius way. His volume "After We Lost Our Way" has some of Blanco's lush rhythms and exotic imagery, but is balanced by a profound sense of honesty and dignity. This is what "City of A Hundred Fires" lacks. Their are no explorations into the psyche of the people, even the narrator's reflections seem to be caught up with the images and not with describing the hurt and pride of the people it claims to represent. Good first book, needs a little more emotional grit. A lot of fire, little heat.

Richard Blanco's "City of a Hundred Fires" is rich and ripe with images and emotion. Voicing the experience of many hyphenated Cuban-Americans, Blanco captures the beauty of the every day, the pain of a displaced community of exiles and their strength and determination in tackling a new country. He celebrates their resilience and mourns their losses -- emotional, psychological and physical. Referring to Cienfuegos, Cuba, "City of 100 Fires" is a beautiful and moving collection of poems that I have shared with many and will always keep close to my heart.

Blanco's recent book, City of a Hundred Fires, designs to map the heart caught in a watery span between two nations-- the conflict and nostalgia of a Cuban growing up in Miami, and what that means to him and the people that surround him. While the poems are focused on a hyphenated experience (Cuban-American), Blanco manages to transcend this focus with writing that is concise and imagistic, honest and intelligent-- a style that allows the reader entry into the the poems, into the two hearts that give this book its beat. These poems take the reader from the shore of 1950's Cuba to the poet's own shaving mirror, from the imagined genesis of Cuba to the poet's childhood memories and desires. These poems ring true as the space between his two countries, between what's in the heart and how to write it down. Blanco is going to be a poet to watch!