Paris' Book Review

Harry Houdini

Author: Vicki Cobb

Publisher: Dorling Kindersley 

Place and year of publication: Canada August 1 2005

Number of pages: 128

Where I found the book; School library 

Summery 

Harry Houdini's real name was Ehrich Weiss. He was born on March 24th 1874. He came from a very poor family. When he was 12 years old, he preformed in a "dime museum." A dime museum is a place were you could go and pay very little to watch people preform. When he was just starting out, he did simple coin tricks. He met a girl named Bess. Erich and Bess preformed together. Ehrich's hero was Robert Houdin. Robert was a very famous french magician. One of Ehrich's  friends sugested that Ehrich name himself after Robert Houdin. Harry is the English translation of the name Ehrich and Houdini means "Like Houdin" in french.

After preforming in dime museums for a long time, a European agent came and asked Houdini to preform in Europe with him. When he was on his way to Europe, he studied alot of Robert Houdin's tricks. He became very skilled in lock picking. He trained himself to be flexible so he could pick locks on his hands with his toes. He trained himself to hold his breath underwater for long periods of time so he could do water escapes. One of his greatest escapes was from England's strongest prison. He was searched and he had no picks on him. Then he was put in a cell with nothing in it. A little while later, Houdini came out of the jail cell. This escape gained him lots of publicity. He became very famous in Europe and England. Soon, he went to America to preform there. he preformed many great tricks. He became very rich and he sent most of his money home to his mother. He later became the president of the SAM (Society of American Magicians).

Harry Houdini preformed many dangerous tricks. These included: Escaping from a sealed milk can filled with water, Being buried alive, escaping from straightjackets underwater, and many more. He also made many movies, but he stopped that because his acting skills were poor. He became the first man to fly a plane in Australia.

On October 31 1926, Houdini died of a ruptured appendix. A few days before, a student asked him if his stomach was hard enough to withstand any punch. Houdini said it was. Before Houdini was ready, the student punched him right were his appendix was. Houdini refused to get medical attention. 

The book is called Harry Houdini because it is all about Harry Houdini. 

Christian Perspective

Houdini was born in a Christian home, but he never really showed that he believed in God. I dont think this book was written in a Christian perspective. 

Houdini never thanked God for giving him the ability to preform in Europe and America. He could have thanked God  for letting him preform and for giving him the skills to pick locks. He could have prayed that all his performances would go well. He could have also prayed that his appendicitis would get better.

My Thoughts 

I picked this book because I had to do a Biography, and this one seamed the most interesting. I dont really like biographys, but this one was kind of interesting. I liked learning about all the tricks Houdini did. I found it interesting how he started out poor and became rich. The author did a great job describing all that Houdini did. I recomend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Houdini or is interested in magic tricks because that is what the book is all about.