Harry Houdini: Death-defying Showman || Show us the magic ...and the man.
Written: Aug 16 '09 (Updated Aug 17 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great illustrations, easy to read, engaging, secrets/hints of some of his tricks included..!!
Cons: Do you really want your kid to run off to be the next Houdini..??
The Bottom Line: The tale of someone respected by his peers, who loved his mother, was faithful to his life-long wife, entertained in dramatic style, and debunked charlatans must be a good thing.
sleeper54's Full Review: Rita T. Mullin - Harry Houdini: Death-defying Show...
... Every young boy has dreamed of traveling the world, finding (or creating, if necessary) adventure, excitement, and the roar of the crowd ...even better if the crowd roars for him.
Ehrich Weiss lived that life. Indeed, he created the prototypical life of the larger-than-life entertainer.
' Ehrich Weiss..?? ' you ask. Ah, of course. You might know him better as the showman and escape artist Harry Houdini. Let me tell you about . . .or better yet ...let Sterling Biographies tell you the story of Harry Houdini: Death-Defying Showman.
Aiming to "(captivate) young readers (with) ...riveting first-person accounts and dramatic events told in an accessible and intimate style..." this biography is an engaging read, even for this not-so-young reader.
Houdini's life story, as presented here, opens with him "hanging by his ankles and wrapped in a straitjacket hundreds of feet above ... a mass of people (gathered) in the streets of Washington D.C." It might be presumptuous to say that of course he easily escapes from his predicament . . .but, of course, he does.
Harry Houdini: Death-Defying Showman (and Houdini himself) traces his performance roots back to his appearance in a neighborhood circus as a trapeze artist when he was a young boy. Over the years he performed as a magician and escape artist on stages and cityscapes across America, Europe, and the world.
The book does an excellent job of not only telling the story of Houdini but also telling the stories of the people and events of his time that affected his career.
A simple timeline at the beginning of the book highlights the important events of his life. Throughout the book are scattered sidebar boxes with 'extra info' content that explores the origin of his name, the days of vaudeville, the stories of his trusted and loyal assistants, imitators of Houdini (including his brother, whom Houdini helped promote), the birth of flight (which Houdini passionately took up just a few years after the Wright brothers' first flights), his support of the U.S. war effort in WWI, the craze of 'spirit mediums', and much more.
All this is woven into the story of his life as a young factory worker and wannabe magician, touring vaudeville escape artist, popular entertainer in the palaces of Europe, the first to fly on the continent of Australia, debunker of 'spirit mediums' and communicating with the dead, and loving son and life-long faithful husband
The book is filled with historic photographs, old advertisements, performance handbills, illustrations, personal photos, and much more. Over the 120 pages only three double-page spreads fail to include an image of some sort. The visual content adds immensely to the depth and intimacy of learning about Houdini and his time.
The story is aimed at the younger middle school reader and thus is a bit repetitive at times. Subject - verb - object is often the sentence structure of choice. While a bit annoying at times, the storytelling usually fleshes it out well. It seems perfectly accessible for a younger reader. A Glossary of terms used in the book and a short Bibliography and Index complete the book.
The Bottom Line We all want the best for our sons, our kids. The presentation of a historic figure who lived a courageous and honest life as an example to emulate cannot be a bad thing.
Harry Houdini: Death-Defying Showman captures just one of the historical figures portrayed in a series of biographies by Sterling Publishing in the Sterling Biography collection. If the other biographies are all this good . . .they have created a great five-star collection for young readers.
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