Rau, Dana Meachen. Harry Houdini: Master Magician. Book Report Biographies Series. New York: Grolier Publishing Inc., 2001. 110 p. $22.00. ISBN 1-531-11599-2.

How do you entice a child to read a biography about a famous Jewish person? Simple. Just find something the child is crazy about--sports, movies, magic--and lead him or her to one of the books in this series.

The story of Harry Houdini (né Ehrich Weiss) began in Budapest in 1874. The son of a rabbi who emigrated to the U.S. in 1878, Ehrich was attracted to athletics and magic from the time he was a young boy. Throughout his career, Houdini was an entertainer "par excellence". He also had a strong sense of his Jewish identity. For example, after performing in Germany around 1901, he wrote in his journal: "[Anti-Semitism] may exist in America, but never that I have known. I never was ashamed to acknowledge that I was a Jew, and never will be, but it is awful what I hear from people that are Jew Haters."

The author writes in an easy conversational style, telling the story of Houdini's life in short, manageable chapters. She has gathered together material from diaries, newspaper clippings, photos, and posters—memorabilia that gives the reader a vivid picture of the life of this world-famous magician. I enjoyed some fascinating tidbits of information. For example, did you know that Houdini was the first aviator to fly an airplane in Australia? My favourite one, though, is the fact that Houdini hired a full-time librarian to keep track of his private collection of material relating to "magic, magicians, books, scripts, spiritualistic effects, documents, steel engravings, [and] automata."

The book ends with a chronology of Houdini's life, a list of books for further reading, Internet resources, and an index. My only criticism of the book is the fact that there are several errors in spelling and grammar. A pity in an otherwise attractive, readable biography.

Recommended for synagogue and public libraries. Grades 4 to 6.

© Anne Dublin.

Originally published in AJL Newsletter, Sept/Oct. 2001.

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