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Who Was . . . ? Series
Who Was Harry Houdini?
Every kid has heard of Harry Houdini, the famous magician who could escape from handcuffs, jail cells, and locked trunks. But do they know that the ever-ambitious and adventurous Houdini was also a famous movie star and the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia? This well-told biography is full of the details of Houdini's life that kids will really want to know about and illustrated throughout with beautiful black-and-white line drawings.
Illustrated by John O'Brien.
Illustrated by John O'Brien.
112 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2002
247 people are currently reading
940 people want to read
About the author
Tui T. Sutherland
202 books6,308 followersOkay, I know what you’re thinking. Tui? What kind of name is that? Is it short for something?
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
Nope. Among the many great things to come out of New Zealand (the Lord of the Rings movies, cats that paint, my mom) is a bird called the tui—not as well known as the kiwi, but a heck of a lot noisier!
I was born July 31 (same birthday as Harry Potter!) in Caracas, Venezuela, and lived in Asuncion, Paraguay; Miami, Florida; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, before moving to New Jersey in high school, where I started doing theatre—mostly backstage work, because (a) it was fun, and (b) you got to hang out in the dark with cute boys. (Er, I mean . . . because it was artistically fulfilling, yes.)
I graduated from Williams College in ’98 and I currently live in Boston with my husband, my perfect new baby, and my adorable yoodle Sunshine (what’s a yoodle? A puppy that’s three-quarters poodle and one-quarter Yorkshire terrier, of course!).
Much to my parents’ relief, I abandoned my theatrical aspirations after college for the far more stable and lucrative career of fiction writing.
My first two official books were beginning readers, part of Grosset & Dunlap’s “First Friends” series for kids learning to read. MEET MO AND ELLA is tough to find now, but FUN WITH MO AND ELLA should still be out there somewhere.
My first novel for teenagers was THIS MUST BE LOVE, which retells Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a modern-day high school, from the POV of the two heroines, Hermia and Helena.
And now I'm writing in a new project called SEEKERS! It's a children's book series that I'm writing with Erin Hunter. Check out my blog to find out more!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
November 16, 2019
4,5 stars. Houdini had a very extraordinary and adventurous life as a talented escape artist! This is a children's book that I used to improve my English reading skills. Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss) was born in 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. He and his Jewish family moved to America in 1875, when he was a baby. He started working when he was only 8 y.o. to help pay the family's bills. He sold newspapers, shined shoes, and ran errands. At 9 y.o., he also had his first starring act in a backyard circus that he put together with his friends. In 1892, his father, who was a rabbi, died, leaving wife and 6 children to care for. Before his father died, Ehrich promised to him always take care of his mother. When he was about 16 y.o., Ehrich came across a book called "The Memoirs of Robert-Houdin" It was the autobiography of a very famous 19-century French magician and it was full of fantastic stories. His family called him "Ehrie" (short for Ehrich) and that sounded like Harry. And Houdin was a name that already made people think of magic. So Harry added an "i" to the end of this surname, and Harry Houdini was born.
December 1, 2022
Loves the whole series. For the young non fiction fans. Similar to the fact trackers in the Magic Treehouse Series.
October 28, 2021
OK, learned all kinds of interesting things about Harry Houdini, including the secrets behind many of his magic tricks! A quick, fun read.
April 10, 2017
Who was Harry Houdini by Tui T. Sutherland is a informational book about the exciting life of Harry Houdini. It covers his entire life which means it's a bigger Who was than the other ones. It goes through his childhood for about 30 percent of the book but, then gets into his adult life as the the amazing Houdini.
I absolutely loved this book and thought it was so interesting to hear about the adventures he had and how devoted he was to his tricks and escapes. Like that time he cut off his jacket in the middle of escaping a pare of hand cuffs. Or the time he purposely stayed underwater longer to get a better reaction from the crowd. It was one the best book I have ever read and think this is the best Who Was ever made.
I think that everybody would love this book and I hope everybody would like this book like I did. It would go so well with everybody, its for people that are curious about Harry Houdini's life or people just want a good book to read. It would go great with people who has read every single of my other books I reviewed.
I absolutely loved this book and thought it was so interesting to hear about the adventures he had and how devoted he was to his tricks and escapes. Like that time he cut off his jacket in the middle of escaping a pare of hand cuffs. Or the time he purposely stayed underwater longer to get a better reaction from the crowd. It was one the best book I have ever read and think this is the best Who Was ever made.
I think that everybody would love this book and I hope everybody would like this book like I did. It would go so well with everybody, its for people that are curious about Harry Houdini's life or people just want a good book to read. It would go great with people who has read every single of my other books I reviewed.
March 6, 2017
Who Was Harry Houdini by Tui Sutherland is a short, great book. It is full of ups and downs and is interesting. First off, his real name is Ehrich Weiss. He ran away from home and went to America at a young age. He wanted to help out his family and he sent a portion of his money that he made each week to his family for them. Harry Houdini was a magician, illusionist, escape artist, movie star, and was even the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia EVER.
In my opinion, this book is a great biography and talks a lot about Houdini's life. Everything from how he got his stage name of Harry Houdini to his first movie, to him flying planes. This book has it all in my opinion.
This book could be recommended to anyone seeking a biography to read. Especially one involving Harry and his greatest escapes. He truly was a magnificent man and he had a lot of firsts for humanity and mankind as a whole.
In my opinion, this book is a great biography and talks a lot about Houdini's life. Everything from how he got his stage name of Harry Houdini to his first movie, to him flying planes. This book has it all in my opinion.
This book could be recommended to anyone seeking a biography to read. Especially one involving Harry and his greatest escapes. He truly was a magnificent man and he had a lot of firsts for humanity and mankind as a whole.
April 13, 2018
if you follow you follow your dreams and do what you love you can be whatever you want.
March 10, 2024
Harry Houdini was a very interesting individual and I really enjoyed reading details about his life in this little book, much of which I already knew. I especially loved reading about all he did to support American soldiers and their families during and after WWI, and hospitals, and orphanages... Houdini was a good man with a kind and compassionate heart and a drive to make others happy. 🙂
March 2, 2017
MAGIC!!! Thats all I can say.
December 9, 2020
Tui T. Sutherland, an American-Venezuelan author, writes the book Who Was Harry Houdini with the purpose of informing readers about the life of the greatest escape artist. Sutherland uses exceptional writing to draw the reader into the informative biography about Harry the Magician.
Ehrich Weiss, or Harry Houdini, was born in Hungary. He grew up traveling and making money for his family. He started with magic then discovered escaping tricks, and the new tricks soon became his main event. When he got older, he started doing shows with his brother. Harry, a perfectionist, became stressed out when his brother messed up a show. Harry later found a new partner and future wife, Bess. Bess stayed with him until the day he died.
Harry was known as one of the best escape artists in the world, because he could escape anything: any handcuffs, box, or body of water. As the author Tui T. Sutherland says, “Other magicians had used handcuffs in their acts before Houdini, but he was the first who made it the main attraction of his show.” The crazy dangerous stunts attracted audiences to Houdini. He was making loads of money when he hit the peak of his career; in fact, Houdini always sent money back for his mother. He loved magic and escape elements, and he loved keeping an audience entertained. Harry started to crave fame; he wanted to be known all over the world. By the end of his life, Harry became a celebrity and had books such as Who Was Harry Houdini written about himself.
Sutherland does a great job of using imagery and pictures to let the reader understand parts of Harry’s life. Whether the book was explaining the tricks Harry performed or explaining the work gone into the tricks, the author does a superb job. The pictures helped explain some of the harder magic tricks, and Tui T. Sutherland’s writing appears clear to help understand the secret of the tricks.
Although many of Harry’s tricks categorized as illusions, most of his shows just consisted of pure talent. His ability to escape from anything took strength and practice. He could escape from a straight jacket, a can full of water, and even throw himself into bodies of water while handcuffed. His crazy stunts created many instances where he could have died. He finally did die in 1926. In that year, a reporter asked Houdini if he could punch him in the stomach because rumors said nothing could hurt Harry Houdini. Harry sustained an injury from the punch to the gut that actually ruptured his appendix. The hospital removed his appendix, but sadly not fast enough. Harry died the next day.
The informative biography interested me through the ways the author wrote. I learned more about the greatest escape artist of all time and even learned some magic tricks myself.
Ehrich Weiss, or Harry Houdini, was born in Hungary. He grew up traveling and making money for his family. He started with magic then discovered escaping tricks, and the new tricks soon became his main event. When he got older, he started doing shows with his brother. Harry, a perfectionist, became stressed out when his brother messed up a show. Harry later found a new partner and future wife, Bess. Bess stayed with him until the day he died.
Harry was known as one of the best escape artists in the world, because he could escape anything: any handcuffs, box, or body of water. As the author Tui T. Sutherland says, “Other magicians had used handcuffs in their acts before Houdini, but he was the first who made it the main attraction of his show.” The crazy dangerous stunts attracted audiences to Houdini. He was making loads of money when he hit the peak of his career; in fact, Houdini always sent money back for his mother. He loved magic and escape elements, and he loved keeping an audience entertained. Harry started to crave fame; he wanted to be known all over the world. By the end of his life, Harry became a celebrity and had books such as Who Was Harry Houdini written about himself.
Sutherland does a great job of using imagery and pictures to let the reader understand parts of Harry’s life. Whether the book was explaining the tricks Harry performed or explaining the work gone into the tricks, the author does a superb job. The pictures helped explain some of the harder magic tricks, and Tui T. Sutherland’s writing appears clear to help understand the secret of the tricks.
Although many of Harry’s tricks categorized as illusions, most of his shows just consisted of pure talent. His ability to escape from anything took strength and practice. He could escape from a straight jacket, a can full of water, and even throw himself into bodies of water while handcuffed. His crazy stunts created many instances where he could have died. He finally did die in 1926. In that year, a reporter asked Houdini if he could punch him in the stomach because rumors said nothing could hurt Harry Houdini. Harry sustained an injury from the punch to the gut that actually ruptured his appendix. The hospital removed his appendix, but sadly not fast enough. Harry died the next day.
The informative biography interested me through the ways the author wrote. I learned more about the greatest escape artist of all time and even learned some magic tricks myself.
December 24, 2017
Audiobook
April 24, 2017
This book outlines the life of internationally known escape artist, illusionist, and overall magician, Harry Houdini. From his early years performing illusions alongside his brother, to his final show, the life led by Houdini was made up of far more than magic as many people seem to believe. The various sections of this book present readers with shocking information regarding the real truth behind the famous Harry Houdini, or Ehrich Weiss, if you prefer.
The layout and writing style of the book makes it one that is very easy to read and understand. This would be a wonderful resource for young readers to research someone as well-known as Houdini, who is likely one of the first names to come to mind when you hear the word magic.
I gave this book a 5-star rating because it is a well written informational text for young readers. The information within it is extremely interesting and is organized in a way that makes it especially easy to navigate, even for children who are in the beginning stages of reading this type of literature. Overall, the value as an educational resource that this book possesses would make it a great addition to a classroom library.
The layout and writing style of the book makes it one that is very easy to read and understand. This would be a wonderful resource for young readers to research someone as well-known as Houdini, who is likely one of the first names to come to mind when you hear the word magic.
I gave this book a 5-star rating because it is a well written informational text for young readers. The information within it is extremely interesting and is organized in a way that makes it especially easy to navigate, even for children who are in the beginning stages of reading this type of literature. Overall, the value as an educational resource that this book possesses would make it a great addition to a classroom library.
July 23, 2012
Excellent biography for young readers just beginning to learn about Harry Houdini. It includes diagrams of two of the illusions Houdini performed spectacularly (although these particular two are not especially difficult for magicians): the brick wall and the vanishing elephant.
It also contains a description of Houdini's famous Metamorphosis trick, but this explanation is poorly done and the illustrations don't give enough explanatory detail. This trick is better described in other biographies.
For further reading with more details, information and insight into Houdini's life young readers can look to ESCAPE! The Story of the Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman (a renowned children's author who actually knew Houdini's widow personally) and the recent Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World's Greatest Escape Artistby Janie Weaver
It also contains a description of Houdini's famous Metamorphosis trick, but this explanation is poorly done and the illustrations don't give enough explanatory detail. This trick is better described in other biographies.
For further reading with more details, information and insight into Houdini's life young readers can look to ESCAPE! The Story of the Great Houdini by Sid Fleischman (a renowned children's author who actually knew Houdini's widow personally) and the recent Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World's Greatest Escape Artistby Janie Weaver
January 26, 2016
The most recent book that I read was all about who Harry Houdini was. Who was Harry Houdini is written by Tui T. Sutherland. The book genre is nonfiction because it talks about a certain persons life. This book takes place in America, Europe, Australia and Russia. The main characters are Harry Houdini, Bess (his wife), and his mother. This book is all about how Harry Houdini lived his life. He was an amazing escape artist and no one could come near his talent. It was all about how escaped from hand cuffs and other dangerous tricks within seconds. I rate this book at 2 out of 5 because it kept repeating itself and it got really boring after awhile because he did the same tricks in every show.
June 8, 2018
I found this book very interesting. Him going to Australia solely to be the first person to fly a plane there was one of the most random yet most interesting things in the book. another cool thing about the book was how his real name is Ehrich Weiss, and that he ran away from home and went to America at a young age. I can say that this book is full of many interesting things about Houdini and it will keep you on the end of your seat.
May 30, 2016
Houdini's friendship and later falling out with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was interesting. Did not know he was tied to spritualism because of him. I also did not know Houdini went to Australia solely to be the first person to fly a plane there.
July 19, 2019
I read this book chapter by chapter with a student I am tutoring who is a big fan of Houdini. Each week, I planned a lesson for a chapter, so the reading was slow going, but I enjoyed learning more about the magician. I have read a couple of these biographies and I think they are well done.
April 26, 2017
This book told about the life of Harry Houdini and how he became one of the worlds greatest known magicians.
May 18, 2017
This was a fascinating book about Harry Houdini's life. It is his life story and how he became famous. I would recommend this book to people who like tricks explained.
October 16, 2017
"Who Was Harry Houdini" is a very informative and easy book. If anybody needs a quick non-fiction book, this is the book for you.
October 13, 2017
I liked that he was a magician and how the book would show the trick steps and then show how it was done
December 13, 2017
Davey and I had fun reading this together!
March 25, 2018
I learned a lot about this man. I never knew his aspirations went way beyond just the field of magic.
April 8, 2018
Amazing! It would be awesome to have seen him in person.
October 8, 2019
OK so Harry Houdini was born on march 24 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. Now his real name was not even Harry It was Erik Weisz, he came up with harry houdini for a stage name like many other magicians do. IN 1875 He moved his family to america where he thought it would be a better place to live than in Europe because he was a Jew. IN 1886 he runs away from home to make money for his family, the year after Harry moves to new York with his father that sadly died on 1892. Harry and his brother theo start to do magic shows and by 1893 he is in the world fair in Chicago but his brother messed up and Harry did not like that so e found his replacement in 1894 which turned out to e the love of his life. By 1900 Harry and Bess are out on their way to Europe for a world tour, in 1905 the tour end and they go back to america after a very successful trip. IN 1910 Harry becomes the first person to fly in Australia. In 1919 Harry performs his most famous act with the Vanishing Elephant. IN 1923 Harry book "A magician among the spirits" is published. Sadly in 1923 Harry dies in Detroit after being the most famous magician in the world.
I actually really like this Book. I would recommend this book to people who like magic or like to learn about people in the past. I like that it explains all of the key points in Harry's life. In some pages it even shows how to do some of the tricks that he himself did!The only thing I did not like about this book is that it did not really go into detail with his life and that it was really short U would have liked to learn more about himI
I actually really like this Book. I would recommend this book to people who like magic or like to learn about people in the past. I like that it explains all of the key points in Harry's life. In some pages it even shows how to do some of the tricks that he himself did!The only thing I did not like about this book is that it did not really go into detail with his life and that it was really short U would have liked to learn more about himI
October 9, 2019
Harry Houdini was a accomplished actor. He was an immigrant from Europe, he struggled at first and then started to do small jobs like polish shoes. He and his mom moved to Milwaukee and Harry started doing magic in little museums. People started to find Harry interesting and a man told him that he should spread his rising across the state. One night two sisters were performing before and ended up marrying one of them. Harry's fame rose so much that he started traveling across the country preforming tricks, illusions, and escapes. he started traveling to Europe and some of Asia. He left Europe because he received news that his mom had died. He continued with his acts in the U.S but they weren't as lively as they were in the past. When WWI broke out he tried to go into the army but he was denied because he was to old. Instead he gave money to the army and taught soldiers how to escape hand cuffs. Later on Halloween night he died to a infection in his appendix.
I gave this book a five out of five stars because it gave detail without having to go into really really boring stuff. It gave a lot of main points and stayed on topic about what was going on in that stage of his life. It also gave details about his life before he came to America which gave you background knowledge before you read the biography. It gave photos and diagrams of what it was describing in the biography. Whenever the author was talking about something that Harry was apart of like world war one they would write a page about world war one.
I gave this book a five out of five stars because it gave detail without having to go into really really boring stuff. It gave a lot of main points and stayed on topic about what was going on in that stage of his life. It also gave details about his life before he came to America which gave you background knowledge before you read the biography. It gave photos and diagrams of what it was describing in the biography. Whenever the author was talking about something that Harry was apart of like world war one they would write a page about world war one.
June 18, 2023
Houdini was awesome. He could escape from anything. I bet he could even escape from a space shuttle.
Houdini was a skeptic. He didn’t want to be called a “magician”, merely an “escape artist”, and even the title of “escape artist” is impressive. Even when he became an illusionist, he still presented his illusions as great tricks, and this book explains how he did them. And they are even more impressive because I know how they were done. Later in Houdini’s life, he traveled around debunking mediums who claimed that they could speak with the dead. This caused a rivalry with his friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes and an ardent believer of spiritualism.
Houdini was Jewish. He was born Erich Weiss in Hungary, and his father was a rabbi. This greatly augments his awesomeness.
Houdini was a good husband. He married his fellow performer Bess. While the marriage faced opposition because Bess was Catholic, they genuinely loved each other. In the ultimate test of spiritualism, Bess held seances trying to contact Houdini’s spirit after his death. Since the seances didn’t work, that certainly proves that spiritualism is a hoax.
Houdini was a great role model. Not because of his line of work, but because he was a man of character and integrity. Oh, I’m sure he has some skeletons in his closet, and he did hide his identity as a Jewish foreigner to become popular, but he was good at what he did and this kid’s biography certainly wouldn’t get into the gory details of his escapes and might exist in his life.
Houdini was a skeptic. He didn’t want to be called a “magician”, merely an “escape artist”, and even the title of “escape artist” is impressive. Even when he became an illusionist, he still presented his illusions as great tricks, and this book explains how he did them. And they are even more impressive because I know how they were done. Later in Houdini’s life, he traveled around debunking mediums who claimed that they could speak with the dead. This caused a rivalry with his friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes and an ardent believer of spiritualism.
Houdini was Jewish. He was born Erich Weiss in Hungary, and his father was a rabbi. This greatly augments his awesomeness.
Houdini was a good husband. He married his fellow performer Bess. While the marriage faced opposition because Bess was Catholic, they genuinely loved each other. In the ultimate test of spiritualism, Bess held seances trying to contact Houdini’s spirit after his death. Since the seances didn’t work, that certainly proves that spiritualism is a hoax.
Houdini was a great role model. Not because of his line of work, but because he was a man of character and integrity. Oh, I’m sure he has some skeletons in his closet, and he did hide his identity as a Jewish foreigner to become popular, but he was good at what he did and this kid’s biography certainly wouldn’t get into the gory details of his escapes and might exist in his life.
November 4, 2019
The book Who was Harry Houdini was a Biography that explained all the highs and Lows of Harry Houdini’s life. Harry was born into a family with the Jewish faith and they were not wealthy but at a sustainable lifestyle. Harry was born in Budapest, Hungary, but at a young age his family moved to Wisconsin to have a better life. Once Harry father died, Harry had to provide for his family he moved away to New York to get a job/ multiple. After some time there he realized what he needed to do, he needed to make his own life style with his own buisness. He started in the illusions/ magic buisness and soon after a few years became known all across America, he became a sensation through Europe and met his forever wife in the process. He created many inventions and set many new records aross the world.
Who was Harry Houdini, this book was a intriguing read it really had a strong theme and moral. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy magic, explorers and new findings(inventions). I loved how the author made Houdinis life so intresting and incorperated so much in such a little amount of time. This book taught me that sometimes life gets hard but you have to find your place. In order to be happy you have to create the right plan, that will make you successful and this plan will include failing and learning how to perfect your end masterpiece. So overall this book was about a man who had a goal and throughout working for that goal he crashed but kept going and working harder to achieve success.
Who was Harry Houdini, this book was a intriguing read it really had a strong theme and moral. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy magic, explorers and new findings(inventions). I loved how the author made Houdinis life so intresting and incorperated so much in such a little amount of time. This book taught me that sometimes life gets hard but you have to find your place. In order to be happy you have to create the right plan, that will make you successful and this plan will include failing and learning how to perfect your end masterpiece. So overall this book was about a man who had a goal and throughout working for that goal he crashed but kept going and working harder to achieve success.
May 28, 2019
I want to start out by saying that I LOVE the "Who Was/Is" series. These books are so informational and keep the readers attention for the entire book!
This book walks you through the entire life of Ehrich Weiss who later became known as Harry Houdini. He was originally from Hungary, but later immigrated to the US with his family. He grew up poor and had to start working at an early age. He would often run away from home, work on the streets doing odd jobs to earn money and then return back home. Eventually Harry developed a love for magic, and started performing in different theaters. He was finally discovered and incorporated escapes as the main part of his show. He and his wife Bess then did everything they could to make sure that the whole world knew who Harry Houdini was!
I would strongly recommend this book to young readers 1st grade on up. The book is simplified enough that they will be able to understand the content, but not "dumbed down" too much as to leave out any important information.
This book walks you through the entire life of Ehrich Weiss who later became known as Harry Houdini. He was originally from Hungary, but later immigrated to the US with his family. He grew up poor and had to start working at an early age. He would often run away from home, work on the streets doing odd jobs to earn money and then return back home. Eventually Harry developed a love for magic, and started performing in different theaters. He was finally discovered and incorporated escapes as the main part of his show. He and his wife Bess then did everything they could to make sure that the whole world knew who Harry Houdini was!
I would strongly recommend this book to young readers 1st grade on up. The book is simplified enough that they will be able to understand the content, but not "dumbed down" too much as to leave out any important information.
October 16, 2019
Who Was Harry Houdini?, is a biography of the famous magician, Harry Houdini. This book tells about his childhood, and everything about him up until his death. On the blurb on the back of the book it gives three facts about him, that he was a magician who could escape from any handcuffs, chains, jail cells, or locks ever invented, that he was the first pilot to fly a plane across Australia, and that he was a famous movie star who was recognized around the world. This book is illustrated and the art for the cover was made by, Nancy Harrison. And the author of this book is, Tui T. Sutherland.
This book is a wonderful biography for people who like nonfiction. I myself am not a big fan of nonfiction but this book was interesting, I liked reading about the life of one of the most famous magicians of his age. I gave this book three stars because I felt some of the illustrations were a little bit messy and this book was a little easy to read. I have been reading the, Who Was books, since I was about 9 years old, and that's probably why I think they were a little easy. I would recommend this book to kids that are either 8 or 9 to 14 years of age.
This book is a wonderful biography for people who like nonfiction. I myself am not a big fan of nonfiction but this book was interesting, I liked reading about the life of one of the most famous magicians of his age. I gave this book three stars because I felt some of the illustrations were a little bit messy and this book was a little easy to read. I have been reading the, Who Was books, since I was about 9 years old, and that's probably why I think they were a little easy. I would recommend this book to kids that are either 8 or 9 to 14 years of age.
July 2, 2018
Harry Houdini is the world-famous escape artist. However, there is much to this great magician than his tricks. Did you know that Houdini didn't like being called a magician but, preferred being called an escape artist? He was also the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia. Houdini was also a perfectionist when it came to his acts. When his brother, Theo made a mistake during one of the performances, Houdini found Bess, who later became his wife to help him perform his illusions.
I found the biography to be well written and very interesting. I learned a lot more about Houdini. The book was very easy to read and understand. I also like how the author included diagrams showing how the tricks were done. While the book was well written, I didn't like the drawings. I felt the drawings looked rush and incomplete.
**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**
I found the biography to be well written and very interesting. I learned a lot more about Houdini. The book was very easy to read and understand. I also like how the author included diagrams showing how the tricks were done. While the book was well written, I didn't like the drawings. I felt the drawings looked rush and incomplete.
**Disclosure - I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**
Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews