January 2002     Vol.3 Issue 1

This month's book reviews

Is Harry Potter mania the same
thing as wizard mania?

When this reviewer ran across a kids' book in the bookstore called "So You Want to be a Wizard," it was compelling to compare and contrast it with the Harry Potter books. This was especially true since the author Diane Duane had published her book in 1983, several years before J. K. Rowling came along with hers. Suspiciously, the Duane book had been repackaged as a paperback and was on the bookshelves as a 1991 publication. Who had influenced whom?

Duane goes to much greater lengths to try to explain the magic of wizards in modern "scientific" terms than does Rowling. The heroine (Nita) and her partner (Kit) in Duane's book are innocent participants in a massive struggle between good and evil that is much more pervasive then the match between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter plots may move slowly in their action, but Duane's plots move even more slowly. The details and the pseudoscientific explanations become almost burdensome, unlike the color and humor in the background details provided in the Potter books.

To appreciate "So You Want to be a Wizard" calls for a better and more focused reader than one needs to be to enjoy "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." For the reader who really likes Duane's treatment of kid wizardry, there are five books in the series.

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A kids' biography of a sports celebrity
that is worthwhile reading

Kobe Bryant, after the 2000 Laker's championship game, is well known to all basketball fans. Matt Christopher's biography of Kobe brings in a lot of background information that most fans would be unaware of. For example, Kobe spent much of his childhood in Europe, as his former NBA player father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, played for an Italian team and was a big star in European basketball. In Europe, Kobe didn't get much of a chance to see NBA games, since they were not broadcast over there. Yet, his hero was Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The biography explains very well how Kobe developed as a player and chose to enter the NBA draft right out of high school, rather than go to college. The pros and cons of making such a decision are discussed in considerable depth. For any boy or girl interested in the game of basketball, "On the Court with Kobe Bryant" is a book not to miss.

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A book to help kids understand
real world "magic"

"Harry Houdini, Master Magician" by Dana Meachen Rau is a new entry in a paperback series called "Book Report Biographies", published by Franklin Watts, a division of Grolier Publishing, Inc. It's a story of a poor immigrant boy who, because of a tremendous drive to be successful, became a world famous magician of the late 19th and early 20th century. Although he achieved international celebrity status, he remained devoted to his mother, his wife, and his family members.

Houdini was not only an escape artist and illusionist, but he also wrote extensively about the history and the performance of magic, authoring books and founding his own magazine for magicians. He even learned to fly a plane to make that part of his image. Late in his career, he produced silent movies. He believed in constantly improving his skills to be the best in his profession.

The popularity of the Harry Potter books about magicians or wizards will likely motivate many kids to want to read about the "real" world of magic. This biography makes it clear that the magic acts we see performed require great skill but, nevertheless, are simply entertaining illusions.

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A good book for helping kids understand
what the Civil War was like in Missouri

Jennifer Johnson Garrity, the author of "The Bushwacker" wrote the book while living in Germany with her family. An American citizen, Garrity has lived in Germany for thirteen years and became interested in the Civil War in Missouri while researching her grandmother's background. It is her first book but it is well written and the details of mid Missouri farm life in the 1860's show the extensiveness of her research. Even though it is a paperback, the layout and illustrations make this a book that kids may want to keep in their personal library.

Garrity does a good job of developing how deep the emotions ran on both sides as Missouri remained torn apart by the war. The kids who read this may very well want to visit Wilson's Creek battlefield at Springfield and Fort Davidson at Ironton, as well as other Missouri sites, that will help bring the Civil War alive for them as it took place in their home state of Missouri. Another bonus is that it is a book that many adults would find interesting reading as they read and share it with their middle school age children.

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