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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.
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.
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.
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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