Abracadabra!

June 13, 2016
British magician Ken Kelly and his 11-year-old daughter, Kristen, introduce 30 magic tricks described via step-by-step instructions; photographs taken by Ken’s wife, Colette; and online videos that readers can access via QR codes. Several tricks make use of everyday items like coins, drinking glasses, toothpicks, and vases; others require paper props readers can cut out of the book, such as a paper lady that can be used to replicate the classic cutting-someone-in-half trick. Kelly explains terms like “misdirection,” “gimmick,” and “sleight of hand” and discusses how audiences will perceive successfully performed tricks. The text is sometimes repetitive (“Think of all the candies you can eat during practice! You’ll have the best excuse ever to eat tons of candies”), and the book’s design is bare bones, but this is still a solid guide for magicians-in-training. Ages 7–up.

July 1, 2016
Grades 4-8 A veteran British stage magician and his extroverted, preteen daughter pair up to present 30 easily learned feats of small-scale legerdemain, misdirection, and illusion. Arranged primarily by level of difficulty, the tricks each feature several bright color photos of the coauthors in action, separate explanations of what the audience sees and how the effect is managed, a materials list, and colored sidebars with handy tips. Each also comes with a QR code that links to an online video demonstration, and a few include pictorial props or patterns with cut-outs that will need to be copied or printed out. Materials range from coins, playing cards, and rubber bands to magician's wax, colored scarves, and plastic bowling pins. Though the notion that magic is more fun when performed before an audience gets almost as much play as the many reminders that practice makes perfect, would-be prestidigitators in need of an example script will find only a few general suggestions. Still, this animated, upbeat collection should disappear quickly from library shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)