HARRY HOUDINI

The life and eye-widening feats of a showman who was “always hungry for adventure, challenges, fame, and success.”

Warning would-be imitators away as needed (“Absolutely Do Not Try This!”) Poskitt offers an animated account of Houdini’s career and lifelong devotion to topping his own seemingly impossible tricks and escapes, punctuating it with explicit side explanations of how many of them were done. Along with helpful diagrams and cutaway views, Ford adds frequent depictions of gobsmacked crowds, despairing rivals, and scenes of the “very strong and very bendy” performer hung about with shackles or posing with his closely knit family. (With the exception of the occasional child of color in a contemporary scene, characters depicted are white.) In line with the series premise and overall informal tone, the author refers to him throughout as “Harry” (his stage name). Andrew Prentice does likewise for his free-spirited subject in the co-published Amelia Earhart (illustrated by Mike Smith), taking “Amelia” (or, in childhood chapters, “Millie”) from homemade backyard roller coaster to final disappearance. Both profiles open with fictive but revealing introductory exchanges, and both focus as much on conveying the distinctive characters of their subjects as on their public achievements. Prentice adds a closing gallery of renowned women aviators, from African-American Bessie Coleman to Jerrie Mock, who, like Earhart, was white.

Together with its companion, stimulating portraits of two colorful, driven historical figures.