• The Houdini Box Quiz

Summary Open this book and come face-to-face with the greatest magician of all time: Harry Houdini! Victor is forever trying to escape from locked trunks, to walk through walls, and to perform any number of Houdini's astonishing magic tricks.without success. Then - amazingly - he meets his idol and begs Houdini to explain himself. A mysterious, locked box is the only answer, and Victor is left to wonder: Does the box contain the secrets of the most famous magic tricks ever performed? From the creator of the Caldecott Medal-winning bestseller The Invention of Hugo Cabret comes this magical storybook that combines captivating mystery with mesmerizing historical fiction. Now, as a bonus at the end of the book, you will find a biographical note about Houdini, an illustrated magic trick, never-before-seen sketches by Brian Selznick, and more.

The Houdini Box conjures up the pure pleasure of an old-time magic show. Author Notes. Brian Selznick is a Caldecott-winning author and illustrator of children's books born July 14, 1966 in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and then worked for three years at Eeyore's Books for Children in Manhattan while working on his first book, The Houdini Box. Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

He also won the Caldecott Honor for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins in 2002. Additional awards include the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Rhode Island Children's Book Award, and the Christopher Award. The Invention of Hugo Cabret will be made into a film by director Martin Scorsese to be released in 2011. Other titles by illustrated by Selznick include: Frindle, The Landry News, Lunch Money, Wingwalker, and Baby Monkey, Private Eye. (Bowker Author Biography). Booklist Review Gr. 'Locks would fall open at his fingertips and he could escape from ropes and chains and cabinets and coffins.

Police from around the world couldn't keep him in their jails and the oceans couldn't drown him.' In his story about a boy who meets the great Houdini, Selznick captures what's most fascinating about stage magic-the power to escape. At 10, Victor wants to be a magician like Houdini. So Victor keeps locking himself in trunks (and having to be released by his weary mother) and holding his breath under the bathwater and trying to walk through walls. Then his dream seems to come true: he meets Houdini, who promises to write.

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Will Victor learn the secret of how to escape in under 20 seconds? The strong, rhythmic prose is great for reading aloud, and Selznick's full-page pencil drawings with close cross-hatching show a dreamy, determined Victor. He looks slightly bedraggled from all his failed attempts at disappearing from the conventional scene.

A mysterious finger here, a foot there, reinforce the sense of a world of secrets. The story begins like an old-style stage magic show, and all the drawings are framed until the end, when Victor finally learns to escape.

Kids will enjoy the magic tricks and the gentle farce, and some will be fascinated by the afterword about Houdini's life-with its unsolved secret.Hazel Rochman. Publisher's Weekly Review In his first book for children, Selznick presents the compelling story of Harry Houdini, the magician who amazed the world with his great escapes. While Houdini circles the globe performing one incredible stunt after another, Victor, a young devotee, goes through his own rigorous magician's training at home-locking himself in closets, holding his breath under water, walking into walls. This counterpoint is a witty, effective device, and Selznick's deadpan text makes the most of it.

It seems that Victor will never become a magician, until one day, after a chance encounter with his hero, he receives a special box that just might contain the secrets of Houdini's success. In his arresting, informative blend of fact and fiction, Selznick splendidly captures the sense of wonder that surrounded Houdini. Equally impressive are his evocative drawings; by turns droll, touching and downright silly, they bring added vitality to a captivating book.

More than anything, however, this ambitious work teaches the importance of faith and the ability to believe in the impossible. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. School Library Journal Review Gr 2-5- Ten-year-old Victor has no success emulating his hero, Harry Houdini; no matter how hard or often he tries, he just can't escape from a locked trunk, or hold his breath underwater for 5000 seconds, or run through walls. Then he meets the magician himself in a crowded train station, and some time later receives a mysterious locked box engraved with the initials ``E. ' Victor can't imagine who E. Is and, disappointed, puts the box away.

Years later, after Victor grows up and has a son of his own, he learns that Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss; he rushes home, opens the box, and that night, while his wife and child lie asleep, he locks himself in the trunk-and escapes in less than 20 seconds. Crosshatched pencil drawings expertly capture the story's droller moments, as well as Victor's changing expressions; details of dress and furnishings, plus dramatic posters on the endpapers, give this a period look and, appropriately, a slightly sentimental flavor.

A capsule biography of Houdini is appended. This brief story has an appeal beyond its reading level.John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.

The Houdini Box Quiz

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