ESCAPE! The Story of the Great Houdini
By Sid Fleischman
Greenwillow, 2006
Category: Middle Grade Nonfiction, Biography
The events of a recent, rainy Monday, have inspired me to read and re-read these books … all honor books and winners of the 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature.
I started at the beginning, of course, by revisiting the books on the list that I have already read. Sara Pennypacker’s CLEMENTINE, for example. And Sid Fleischman’s ESCAPE!
Hold it. What is this? There is no entry in my blog archive for ESCAPE! How is that possible? It was one of my favorite nominees in the Middle Grade Nonfiction category of the 2006 Cybil Awards. I know I talked it up to my kids and my friends; I remember mentioning over and over again how struck I was with the role language played in creating atmosphere in the book. I complimented the author on pulling in a reluctant reader by attending so beautifully to story. How could I have neglected to talk about ESCPAE! here on my blog?
Hmmm. Let’s fix that.
First of all, let me reiterate that I was, in the case of ESCAPE!, a reluctant reader. I’m just not all that interested in magic … or in Harry Houdini. And yet I was drawn into this book. Houdini’s intrepid personality leaped from its pages and Fleischman’s language choices painted Harry Houdini—rapscallion that he was—so vividly that even I was entranced.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Sid Fleischman at a recent New England SCBWI Conference. He was a keynote speaker and charmed audiences with both words of wisdom and sleight of hand. He personalized my copy of ESCAPE! during the weekend, doodling a rabbit peeking out of a top hat and inscribing the title page:
“Cheers and Congratulations for Loree on the publication of her first book! ABRACADABRA! Sid Fleischman”
I can’t wait to meet him again at the award banquet …