Houdini

Illustrated by Nick Bertozzi

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On Sale: Sep 4, 2019
Page Count: 96 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
ISBN-13: 9781368046022

"I have escaped out of more handcuffs, manacles, and leg shackles than any other human being living."

Harry Houdini mesmerized a generation of Americans when he was alive, and continues to do so over ninety years since his death. This is a snapshot of The Handcuff King's life, centering on one of his most famous feats. As Houdini prepares for a death-defying leap into the icy Charles River in Boston, biographer Jason Lutes and artist Nick Bertozzi reveal Houdini's life and influence: from the antisemitism Houdini fought all his life, to the adulation of the American public from his hounding by the press, to his loving relationship with his wife Bess from his egoism to his insecurity from his public persona–to the secret behind his most amazing trick! And it's all in graphic form, so it's fresh, original, and unlike anything previously published about this most fascinating of American showmen.

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The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents

"Lutes and Bertozzi successfully offer a tiny snapshot as a way into a very large life."
Publishers Weekly
* "Avoiding overt, showy tricks themselves, Lutes and Bertozzi use clean, simple storytelling and crisp, clear black-and-white art to create not only a portrait of the man but also that sense of suspense and anticipation Houdini generated in his performances."
Booklist (starred review)
* "Bertozzi's illustrations are simply spectacular."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
2008 YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens2008 Booklist Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth
PRAISE FOR AMELIA EARHART: THIS BROAD OCEAN

* "Like Earhart herself, this book ought to soar exuberantly into the hearts of its readers."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PRAISE FOR AMELIA EARHART: THIS BROAD OCEAN

2011 YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens
PRAISE FOR ANNIE SULLIVAN AND THE TRIALS OF HELEN KELLER

* "[B]rilliantly conceived and executed. . . . [R]arely is [this story] presented in such a breathtaking, original, and empathetic fashion."
Booklist (starred review)
PRAISE FOR ANNIE SULLIVAN AND THE TRIALS OF HELEN KELLER

2013 Eisner Award
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

"Raw and memorable."
Chicago Tribune
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

"Sturm's text poignantly conveys the quiet bitterness of his hero, and Tommaso's spare, two-tone drawings brilliantly contrast the physical beauty of the old, rural South with the savagery of its social institutions."
The New York Times Book Review
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

* "By emphasizing Paige's influence and mythos rather than focusing on details about his life or career, Sturm and Tommaso offer a powerful and unique testimony to his legacy."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

* "This visually powerful, suspenseful, even profound story makes an excellent choice for readers interested in baseball or in the history of race relations."
Booklist (starred review)
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

* "[T]his graphic novel . . . imparts as clear a picture of the aggressive style of black baseball as it does of the realities of life in the rural Deep South in Paige's barnstorming heyday."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PRAISE FOR SATCHEL PAIGE: STRIKING OUT JIM CROW

2008 Eisner Award2008 Glyph Comics AwardNAACP Award Nominee for Best Literary Work--Youth/Teens2008 Junior Library Guild Selection
PRAISE FOR THOREAU AT WALDEN

* "Porcellino creates a poetic alternation of words and silences that effectively draws the reader into Thoreau's point of view."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
PRAISE FOR THOREAU AT WALDEN

2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults