|
What We're Reading:
Current Picks
from
the Watermark Staff
|
“Houdini: The Handcuff King” by Jason Lutes
& Nick Bertozzi (Hyperion, 9780786839025, $16.99)
“Houdini: The Handcuff King” is the first in a new line of graphic-novel
biographies for young readers jointly created by Hyperion Books and the Center
for Cartoon Studies. In ninety pages of crisp black-and-white art, the book
tells a thrilling fictionalized story from the life of Harry Houdini, the famous
Jewish Hungarian-American escape artist and stage magician.
The book begins with an engaging introduction by novelist Glen David Gold,
author of the rollicking escape-artist novel “Carter Beats the Devil.” Gold
unlocks the unique nature of Houdini’s enduring fame by likening him to
basketball player Michael Jordan: just as Jordan’s stardom brought intense new
attention to his sport, Houdini’s immense renown gained worldwide acclaim for
stage magic. “He was the first man in history,” Gold says, “to be famous because
what he did was cool.”
Like Gold’s introduction, the book’s main story is deftly aimed to interest
young readers. Rather than offer a stale overview of Houdini’s life, Lutes and
Bertozzi instead choose a single telling incident that captures much of what
made the man a sensation. They take readers through a single day in 1908, the
day the Great Houdini, wrapped in chains and clasped in handcuffs, leapt from
the Harvard Bridge into the freezing waters of the Charles River.
From 5:00 a.m. on, we get to see Houdini practice and prepare, rehearsing his
skills as a lock-pick, tracing his route to the bridge, and imagining his
death-defying leap. Along the way, our storytellers show us how Houdini wins the
complete trust of his assistants (absolutely necessary to keep his tricks
secret), how he confronts the unthinking anti-Jewish bias shown by the police,
and how much he relies on the partnership and cleverness of his steady wife
Bess.
Lutes and Bertozzi prove that a graphic novel is the perfect form to showcase
Houdini’s spectacle-rich life. In each panel, with his every word and
expression, their Harry Houdini exudes showmanship and panache. And in the last
tense seconds before the big moment, the authors ratchet the tension up with an
excellent sequence of excellently-paced images: Bess’s arrival at the bridge is
delayed, Harry has to posture and stall; Bess barrels through the police line to
give her husband his good-luck kiss (and to slip him a secret lock-pick); Harry
then plunges down into the river’s black embrace and sets about working his
magic.
This well-told story benefits from clear, beautiful drawings and first-rate
design. The book is a solidly made hardcover that features a short bibliography
and genuinely interesting endnotes that comment on elements of the main story:
series editor James Sturm explains incidental details like the workings of
turn-of-the-century advertising and telecommunications and the college rivalry
between Yale and Harvard. It all adds up to a great package that’s sure to catch
young readers’ imaginations. “Houdini: The Handcuff King” is a treat that should
find a place on library shelves and in the hands of youthful, wondering readers.
(For ages 9 and older)
Review by
Mark David Bradshaw
Hook a young person with this well-done graphic novel, then introduce them to
the recent young-reader biography
Escape! The True
Story of the Great Houdini
Back
to Reviews
|
