Reviews for A Picture Book of Harry Houdini

The average rating for A Picture Book of Harry Houdini based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-05-04 00:00:00 Jani Kurki Title: A Picture Book of Harry Houdini Author: David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler Illustrator: Matt Collins Genre: Biography (K-2) Theme(s): Magicians, Escape Artists, Pictorial Works Opening Line/sentence: Two men lifted the great Harry Houdini and lowered him into a large water-filled can. Brief Book Summary: Harry Houdini, the great magician and escape artist, is honored in this book through the tale of his rise to success and fame. Starting with a thrilling stunt and then flashing back to his humble beginnings, the story reveals how Houdini became the famous man he was when he died. From Hungary to Wisconsin to New York City the book marvels at how he started as a working boy and then after various jobs and circuses, he would ask to be locked up so that he could escape. He also performed magic including disappearing elephants and jumping off bridges. The book mentions how the crowds flocked to see him and he even became an international star. To close the book, the author shares the death of Houdini with a blow to the stomach and how even in his death he was celebrated by multitudes of people. Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Ellen G. Cole (Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, February/March 2010 (Vol. 29, No. 3)) Strong art and straightforward text clearly introduce the magnetic magician/escape artist, Harry Houdini. The chronological explanation stays tightly focused on the major facts of Houdini's personality, career and reputation. Picture book readers gain a good idea of his life and life style from a spare biography that neither overwhelms them with everything Houdini did nor disappoints them by explaining how tricks were accomplished, as volumes for older readers do. The text counterpoints Houdini's relationships to his drive to be the world's greatest magician. His Jewish roots and family ties take the stage almost as often as his performances. His hard work perfecting his craft, his loyalty to his audiences are so impressive, the attack that causes his death shocks in word and picture. Sophisticated, mobile illustrations from strange or unusual points of view dynamically capture Houdini pushing the envelope to achieve the thrills in his act. Pictures jump the gutter; they rush into the reader's space, instilling tension and immediacy. The action is set in its historical time, over 80 years ago. The art presents the era's fashions, cars, buildings, and crowd emotions, while the text tracks a small-time magician developing into an international star through his talent, innovation, courage, persistence, and daring. It is no trick to love the famous Houdini; the trick is to deliver the man without losing the magic. The Adlers/Collins team admirably succeeds; their book is highly recommended. Professional Recommendation/Review #2: Ashley Muskett (Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2010) Have you ever wondered how Houdini started out? March 24, 1874, Erich Weisz was born. As a young boy he did odd jobs to help his family out and eventually worked at a locksmiths, where he learned to open all the locks without keys. In 1981 he changed his named to Harry Houdini and his career as one of the greatest magicians of all time began. In this book you get to learn all of the incredible stunts Harry had done in his lifetime. It is an excellent book for young elementary-aged children to read to learn more about their favorite magician. Each page is filled with vibrant pictures to furthermore help children understand about this man s life. Response to Two Professional Reviews: The first review does a wonderful job delivering the story and how the author tells Houdini's tale without losing the wonder of his magic tricks. I agree with this review as it mentions how the use of the gutters and interesting positioning of Houdini brings his character to life in the illustrations. I value this reviewer's opinion on how the author brought in Houdini's family background and was able to capture both the motivation behind Houdini's acts and how his acts affected his domestic life. The second review is more of an overview of the story, giving nothing but the main points of the book. Although it does very briefly mention the illustrations, this review does nothing additional to persuade a reader to pick up this book. Evaluation of Literary Elements: For a nonfiction biography, this book has all the qualities of an enjoyable children's picture book. Instead of incorporating real-life photos and listing facts about Houdini, this story contains illustrations that capture the charm of the era and excitement of magic acts. Houdini is portrayed in these illustrations to either be miniscule to the large and dangerous stunt he is about to perform or the center of attention to show off how much the crowds adored him. The plot of this story includes one flashback to give the reader background information on the famous escape artist. By previewing what the story is about on the first page with an escape from a locked milk jug, the author is teasing the reader's interest by showing off what Houdini will become and then going backwards to when it all began with Houdini's boyhood. In addition to a thrilling plot, the illustrations constantly remind you of Houdini's presence as a magician with tones of red, purple, black, and white: classic colors associated with magic acts. Overall the book does a great job of capturing Houdini as both a domestic, family-loving man and a daring, bold magician. Consideration of Instructional Application: This would be a good read aloud book. Although a little lengthy and wordy, it would be a good book to introduce biographies to younger children. In would be a good book to supplement with a simple magic trick for kids that finish early or as a fun learning center. This book would also be a good book to introduce other famous magicians. If your students were interested enough, it could bridge into a lesson about optical illusions where you could talk about how magicians perform certain tasks and, as a class, you could debunk some magic tricks.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-10-16 00:00:00 Jennifer Goodwin Great clear illustrations and text. I have always been somewhat fascinated by Houdini's escape arts, and practiced my own less daring escapes as a child. I was fascinated to find out Harry Houdini was actually an alias he gave himself and that he was actually born "Ehrich Weiss/Weiss, in Budapest, Hungary. His journey America and to stardom, as well as other details shared by the author were fascinating.