Seriously Silly

Why? Because again, this is a book written by a very heavily booked children's magician from New York who knows his stuff,and most of all, he is giving all his knowledge to you. This is knowledge earned the hard way from doing the job week in, week out , for 30 or so years. Anytime you come across any book or DVD by a professional like this, you should just buy it.

There is SO MUCH information in Seriously Silly. I'm established as a children's entertainer but every few months I go back to this book and find another useful idea or an answer to a problem I'm having. It's a reference book that will become dog eared from continual use.

Here's a little of what's inside:

• Interesting essays on his experiences as a children's performer. David drops some pretty impressive names of his clients: Sultan of Brunei, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen. These bits are a bit of showing off (and why wouldn't you?) but they do a long way in establishing his credibility.

• A great summary of what it takes to be a good kids performer. it's called Your First Steps: 10 Steps To Understanding Children's Magic

• The psychology of performing magic for children. It's here you will understand what magic is to a child and how you need different shows for different ages. He shows you how to do the same trick for 3 different age groups: 3-6, 7-9, 10-13. This is very insightful and something I have never seen done elsewhere.

• How to routine magical effects for children - this is where he teaches you his routines and explains WHY they work. With no sleight of hand experience whatsoever, you could put a few of these straight to work in your first show.

• Solving the problems of performing for children - No other book I know of has ever had a section like this. All those questions like 'How do I deal with the ONE problem kid in the audience?' are answered here, with literally dozens of tested strategies. This is pure gold for newcomers to the business.

• There are also appendices like a dictionary of child friendly words to help explain the magic terms adults use into ones a child would understand eg. PREDICTION becomes I will guess for children.

This brief overview is only scratching the surface. You should also be aware there is also the companion DVD, Seriously Silly. It's good in so far as you see all of the routines as he performs them. I've got both the book and the DVD and I would recommend the book ten times over the DVD.

Seriously Silly is the ONE book you NEED to have on your shelf if you want to entertain children.

This brief overview is only scratching the surface. You should also be aware there is also the companion DVD, Seriously Silly. It's good in so far as you see all of the routines as he performs them. I've got both the book and the DVD and I would recommend the book ten times over the DVD.