Harry Houdini may be the most famous magician ever. He began his career working as a sideshow act in carnivals but, by virtue of talent, study and very hard work, elevated his craft to an art, making his name a household word. A few of his more clever illusions have never been fully explained; when he died at age 52 in 1927, he took many of his secrets to the grave. This biography includes a wealth of detailed information on both Houdini and a wide variety of only marginally related subjects. Page-long text boxes include biographies of the Wright brothers, Jack London and Theodore Roosevelt, and a description of the rambling Winchester Mansion. Although period photographs and advertisements add interest, the narrative is, unfortunately, often repetitive, sometimes almost word for word. The cover promises “21 Magic Tricks and Illusions,” but some of those are how to build a box kite, a recipe and an explanation of how to measure volume displacement of solids in water. An editor’s magic would have benefited this average effort. (further reading, source list, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55652-782-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2009
In a shelled, rubble-strewn city, women and children huddle indoors and wait—for the war to be over, for the men to come home, for the fear to end. When even the slight lift brought by the weekly arrival of relief supplies is taken away by the bombing of the delivery truck, irascible old Mr. O calmly steps out into the open and, despite the danger, sits down to play Bach on his magnificent cello. Cutler (’Gator Aid, p. 1131, etc.) has fashioned a simply told, powerfully evoked tale of music and courage; in somber watercolors lit by abstract swirls of color, Couch places the young narrator and her neighbor amidst shattered buildings beneath overcast skies. Not even the destruction of his cello stops Mr. O from continuing to deliver his gift; out of his pocket comes a harmonica, and the music soars again. Though the setting and characters have a modern, European look, neither locale nor enemy is specified, or, in fact, relevant. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46119-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
James, ten, makes the most of a sudden chance to run with the big boys in this hard-fought game of playground basketball. Stepping onto the main court and told to guard Marcus, a head taller and hard as a rock, James looks bad at first; his uncertainty fades as he gets into the rhythm of the game, and at last it’s his shot that makes the winning point. Coy (Night Driving, 1996) tells the tale in unslangy prose, with brief bursts of dialogue and short, precise descriptions. The text is printed in a typeface aptly named “Blur Light,” with chosen words in different sizes and colors. It’s an engrossing, if overdesigned, debut for Jean-Bart; the full-color photograph-and-scratchboard collage illustrations, whose roughly inked edges give them an unfinished look, interpret the action literally, in a far more successful evocation of the game’s look and feel than that found in Charles R. Smith’s Rimshots (1999). In the end, James slaps Marcus’s hand, then proudly turns to face the next quartet of challengers. Cleanly compelling. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 1-880000-80-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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