Into your heart comes the story about Cookie the Clown and her family who journey from Clownika, the homeland of real clowns, into our human world. They begin living among Gudigads (what the clowns call us) and become minorities in our world. By looking at the clown race, the story teaches children that people are sometimes treated differently based solely on how they look.

With a little bit of magic, one plucky clown is determined to turn Christmas around for a village that’s down on its luck in this enchanting tale from Tomie dePaola. Every midwinter, little Jingle and his family, Il Circo Piccolo, The Little Circus, travel through the countryside to the city for their special Christmas performance. Each year, they stop at the same little village to put on a show for its residents. It’s Jingle’s favorite night. This year, though, things are different. There is no smoke coming out of the chimneys. Everything is closed up. And the few people still in town have fallen on hard times and don’t have the money to see the circus anymore. But Jingle is not so easily deterred. With the help of his baby animals, he is determined to put on a show that no one will forget.

The intimacy of the one-ring circus produced the classic clown routines that flourished until the mid-twentieth century and then disappeared with the rise of the grand circus. They have been lost until now. By seeking out the little band of surviving clowns who worked in the old tradition and setting down their scenes, Tristan Rémy, the eminent circus historian, has rescued a theatrical treasure. Thanks to Rémy's persistence, the forty-eight scenes presented here contain not only the spoken words but the manner of line delivery and the physical turns. So they remain superbly suitable for performance. Most of them are written for just three actors—the white-faced clown, August the stooge, and the supercilious ringmaster. Sets are unnecessary. And their combination of the verbal with the physical has timeless appeal. Bernard Sahlins's translation is masterfully attuned to present-day audiences. In his foreword, Mr. Sahlins notes that these scenes have been continually remounted in Europe, attesting to their fundamental vitality and universality. “Clearly there is a debt, witting and unwitting, owed to the clown of the ring by the great comedians of our century. With this book these scenes and the clowns who invented and played them now take their honored place in our theatrical legacy.”

"On the Couch" eavesdrops on the therapeutic process as some of America's best-known writers take the reader into the charged and sacred space between patient and analyst.

"Petronius, the funniest clown in the world, has had enough of being told what to do. Together with his friends, he sets up his own circus. Will the hopeful crew finally be able to perform the tricks they've always dreamed of doing? This picture book classic from 1961 has been newly illustrated by award winner Torben Kuhlmann for a whole new generation to enjoy."--Back cover

Acclaimed entertainer Hans Schneir collapses when his beloved Marie leaves him because he won’t marry her within the Catholic Church. The desertion triggers a searing re-examination of his life—the loss of his sister during the war, the demands of his millionaire father and the hypocrisies of his mother, who first fought to “save” Germany from the Jews, then worked for “reconciliation” afterwards. Heinrich Böll’s gripping consideration of how to overcome guilt and live up to idealism—how to find something to believe in—gives stirring evidence of why he was such an unwelcome presence in post-War German consciousness . . . and why he was such a necessary one.

The Wastelands is a book of short stories compiled to shock, disturb and maybe even evoke laughter. Inside are tales from the far future and a tyrannical government to a therapist who may have found the ability to change the past. You'll find the true meaning of madness and how simply and how fast it can take over a rather rational man. You will find out what it is like to be the last man on earth and suddenly find out that you may no longer be alone. These are stories that shall tap into your darkest fears and also open up your wildest fantasies and imagination. The ones that you've only thought about. Inside these pages are your greatest desires and most terrifying nightmares. These are stories that could only come from one place and it's a small little place that we like to call The Wastelands.

The history of television in Chicago begins with the birth of the medium and is defined by the city's pioneering stations. WBKB (now WLS-TV) was the principal innovator of the Chicago School of Television, an improvisational production style that combined small budgets, personable talent, and the creative use of scenery and props. WNBQ (now WMAQ-TV) expanded the innovative concept to a wider audience via the NBC network. WGN-TV scored with sports and kids. Strong personalities drove the success of WBBM-TV. A noncommercial educational station, WTTW, and the city's first UHF station, WCIU, added diversity and ethnic programming. The airwaves in Chicago have been home to a wealth of talented performers and iconic programs that have made the city one of the country's greatest television towns. Chicago Television, featuring photographs from the archives of the Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) and the collections of local stations and historians, gives readers a front-row seat on a journey through the fi rst 50 years of Chicago television, 1940-1990. Founded in 1982 by broadcaster Bruce DuMont, the MBC Web site offers over 10,000 digital assets.

THE PARTY'S OVER - SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL SEAN NIPWUD. After all the years of excesses: the drinking, the drugs, the casual sex, the highs with your mates - Just what are you supposed to do next? Sean Nipwud, a 33-year old married father of one. A chronic insomnia disorder. A dubious lack of morals. A devious double persona. A reckless quest for excitement. And a huge chasm in his social fulfillment that demands his full attention. Nipwud menaceson the cusp of personal disaster as he toils in his descision between the frivolity and fantasies that his hungry, fatigued mind craves, or the family that loves him the most. Sean Nipwud is the chemical generations newest belated anti-hero. JOIN THE COMEDOWN!