Houdini and Me

Dan Gutman

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- $8.99

Harry has always admired the famous escape artist Houdini. And when Houdini asks for help in coming back to life, it seems like an amazing chance...or could it be Houdini's greatest trick of all?

Eleven-year-old Harry Mancini is NOT Harry Houdini--the famous escape artist who died in 1926. But Harry DOES live in Houdini's old New York City home, and he definitely knows everything there is to know about Houdini's life. What is he supposed to do, then, when someone starts texting him claiming that they're Houdini, communicating from beyond the grave? Respond, of course.

It's hard for Harry to believe that Houdini is really contacting him, but this Houdini texts the secrets to all of the escape tricks the dead Houdini used to do. What's more, Houdini's offering Harry a chance to go back in time and experience it for himself. Should Harry ignore what must be a hoax? Or should he give it a try and take Houdini up on this death-defying offer?

Dan Gutman is the award-winning author of series including My Weird School, The Genius Files, and the baseball card series, including Honus & Me. He uses his writing powers for good once again in this exciting new middle grade novel.

Named a New York State Great Read by the Empire State Center for the Book!

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JAN 11, 2021

Having been born in the New York City house in which Harry Houdini lived the last years of his life, 11-year-old Harry Mancini has become obsessed with the famous magician, learning the illusionist's history and picking up magic tricks of his own. When Harry is injured trying to flatten a coin on the train tracks near his home, he wakes up from a coma and finds a gift box with an old flip phone inside, and soon he is getting texts from none other than Houdini himself. The texts are exciting until Houdini seeks to re-create his most famous trick and switch lives with Harry for one hour, sending Harry to Kansas City in 1921, where he's expected to escape from a straitjacket. Things become truly hair-raising when Houdini suggests taking over Harry's body again, this time for good—and with or without Harry's permission. Gutman (the My Weird School series) touches on profound topics through Harry's chatty narration, such as the boy's yearning for his late father. Interspersed with New York City facts and photographs of Houdini, this entertaining story ends, appropriately, with a touch of magic. Ages 8–12.

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