Magical Fun

Betsy Nuse, the former owner of Boudicca Books, is a Vancouver poet,
writer, and editor.

The editors of OWL and Chickadee magazines have created an introduction
to performing magic for children in the primary grades. There are
recipes for a variety of safe and instructive tricks—card tricks, mind
reading, fortunetelling, and tricks with props and bodies—a few of
each kind so that an aspiring magician has enough repertoire for at
least one long or two short shows. The tricks chosen are simple, but
require some fairly common household articles, preparation, and panache
to pull them off with polish.

The large-format paperback is well designed and well illustrated,
featuring full-color photographs of kids of many races performing. The
instructions for the magic tricks are clearly written, and as a bonus
there are a few puzzles and mental challenges for a reader to solve. Any
young performer should enjoy this book.