I wanted to respond to your question about magic books--my 13 year old son is a very serious magician and member of the Magic Castle here in Hollywood. Here are some of his favorites along with brief reviews I did for a library school class:

1. Wilson, Mark. Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic. Running Press Kids, 2003 (originally published 1975). 512 pages. ISBN 0762414553
Genre: Nonfiction
Reading Level: Grade 5 through adult


While this book is not written specifically for children, it is a classic in the field, written by a well-known professional magician and encompassing all major areas of magic. The author has been named one of the top 10 magicians of the 20th century by Magic magazine, the leading magazine for professional magicians. Wilson claims his book is the most popular book of magic instruction in history, and the book has sold over 850,000 copies. There are good reasons for its success; it is abundantly illustrated, with more than 2,000 pictures which illustrate over 300 tricks, ranging from simple card tricks to advanced illusions. The tricks are explained very clearly, with easy-to-follow instructions. He also provides advice on planning a quality magic show. Of 52 reviews on Amazon, 51 of the readers, many of whom are professional magicians, give the volume 5 stars. It is a must-have for any library collection on magic. Tannen’s Magic Store, perhaps the leading magic store in the country, give the volume this enthusiastic endorsement: “Its thoroughness makes Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic especially recommended for the beginner with absolutely no experience in magic. At the same time, its scope and depth has earned this book a place in the libraries of many of today's most accomplished magicians, professional and amateur alike!” The book does not have an index but features an extremely detailed table of contents, and the tricks are well organized into different categories such as coin tricks, card tricks, silks, ropes, and so on.

Jay, Joshua. Magic: The Complete Course: Book and DVD. Workman Publishing, 2008. 278 pages. ISBN 0-7611-4987-2
Genre: Nonfiction
Reading Level: Grade 5 through adult

This brand-new book is sure to become a new must-have for magic lovers, young and old, and an excellent addition to public and school library collections. Written by Joshua Jay, a charismatic young magician who won the top prize at the prestigious World Magic Seminar when he was only 16 years old, this very attractive book includes high quality color photographs and step-by-step instructions for 100 assorted tricks. It also comes with an invaluable, very well-made 90 minute DVD in which Joshua Jay demonstrates how to perform 35 of these tricks. Each trick is broken down into various components, including the effect, the secret, the set-up, and the performance, with suggestions for patter, what to do with your hands, and other hints for a good performance. The book also provides suggestions for combining the tricks in this volume into discrete shows of varying lengths designed for different types of audiences. He also includes examples of famous magicians who have invented particular tricks in the books or done something related to the trick, thus providing some magic history as well. In the back of the book is a resource list, giving ways to stay involved with magic, and a detailed index. There is also a useful DVD menu on the inside back cover of the book, which lists to find the same trick in the book. Of 37 reviews posted to date on Amazon.com, the book receives an average 5 star review, with most of the readers raving about what a wonderful addition this volume is to the field. Jay writes in his blog that this book is intended by the publisher to be a “category killer,” a book more comprehensive, wide-ranging, and aesthetically beautiful than anything that has come before it. The author adds, “The book is the beginner’s guide I wish I could have read.” Although some of the tricks in this book are not suitable for tweens because they involve matches, this book nonetheless is so attractive and otherwise suitable for tweens in appeal and ease of use that it belongs in every library magic collection.

9. King, Mac and Mark Levy. Tricks with Your Head: Hilarious Magic Tricks and Stunts to Disgust and Delight. Three Rivers Press, 2002. 208 pages. ISBN-10: 0609805916
Genre: nonfiction
Age range: 5th grade and up

The gags and stunts in this perfect are perfect for the gross-out stage all tween boys seem to go through. Written by award-winning magician Mac King, winner of 2008’s Best Comedy Magician award, and Mark Levy, author of Magic for Dummies, this book includes tricks sure to “gross out” school friends such as how to make your head disappear, penetrate your skull with a straw, make a French fry disappear up your nose, jab a fork in your eye, and more. The book receives an average 4 star review on Amazon, with 24 reviews. The book is written in a comical, entertaining style, and is amply illustrated with funny cartoons. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. This book is sure to be a hit with boys, who seem to comprise about 95 percent of the kids interested in magic.

It is my feeling that most of the books on magic tricks written for little kids are not very good; DVD's are great for learning magic tricks--much easier than books. The great thing about the Joshua Jay book is that it comes with an excellent DVD.

There's also a lot of great magic out there on You Tube and other internet sites; I'd be happy to send you some links after checking with my son (in school at the moment!)

Excellent! Good point about books Vs. DVDs. I think there's room enough in systems for both, but these are magnificent! I'll be forwarding this on to my Materials Specialist immediately.

Thanks so much, Margo!

Wow...Walden Media is really scraping the bottom. It started in 2002 as a company who's founding principle was to bring kid's books to the big screen as well as find and publish new books that could also become movies in their own right.

As noble as it sounds, I think it was really part of the idea of "synergy" that was sweeping over the big media/entertainment conglomerates back at that time.

Disney, Universal, Paramont and all the others were trying to either find, or better yet develop product internally, that could be leveraged across books, movies, video games, and theme park rides.

Unfortunately, it seems that the "synergy thing" never really worked out--for anyone.

Other than it's original "Narnia" movie, Walden seems to have struggled with stinker movies, especially "Around the World in 80 Days", "Hoot", "The Dark is Rising", and "City of Ember". Even their last big-budget "Prince of Caspian", which did well overseas, bombed domestically (overseas take must be divided by 2 before hitting the bottom line).

But worse than movies, Walden's book impact has been nill(and books are infinately easier to produce than a movies). So far Walden has made 19 movies(with partners), but other than SAVVY which was co-published with Penguin's DAIL imprint, I can't think of a single memorable book example.

Recently Walden left Penguin Putnam and they are now a stepchild over at Harper Collins, I believe under the Bazler and Bray imprint.

So it looks like Walden Media is imploding. I think by this point all the principles who started the company back in 2002 have been purged.

So where big conglomerates fail, someone must step in, and there continues to be an insatible demand for good movie material. But when millions of movie production dollars are spent to bring "Sunny with a Chance of Meatballs"...or now..."THE BERENSTAIN BEARS" to the big-screen, it's a sure sign of a dearth of new, quality(movie-wise) stories coming out of the children's book arena.

Dover Publications has a lot of books about magic including some for beginners.

How important is recent for a book on magic? It seems like there are a lot of good books which have been around for awhile. Is it just that you already have the older books?

Well, that and the fact that if a book is out of print I can't purchase it. For example, I went to check out the Jay Joshua book mentioned earlier only to find that it's unavailable now.