Mind Magic: Tricks for Reading Minds

Provides step-by-step instructions for tricks that apparently demonstrate the ability to read minds

Grade 4-7-McGill describes the preparation necessary for each of 10 tricks, what the audience will see, and how they work. They depend on careful prep and require some (or all) of the following skills: organization, attention to detail, memorization, self-confidence, public speaking, acting, and a flair for the dramatic. Anyone who follows the directions to the letter will know the heady thrill of success-there is no more powerful confidence builder than being able to do something that appears to be impossible. The slim book is clearly written and minimally illustrated with instructive green-washed cartoons. The lack of visual appeal may be a problem, but once readers try the first trick, they'll be hooked. It may be a shelf sitter without some selling.
Carole B. Kirkpatrick, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-6. Most kids like the idea of performing magic tricks. This book has the added hook of providing 10 tricks similar to the kind done by "mentalists" like the Amazing Kreskin. Very little in the way of equipment is needed, but the clever tricks make a big impression. Among the diversions: a trick in which the magician appears to know the questions before an audience can utter them aloud; the ability to decide if a person, whose name has been picked out of a hat, is dead or alive; and several tricks using mathematical skills. Unfortunately, the book's most convoluted directions come with the first trick, and that may turn readers off. But those who persevere will find lots here that's fun. Simple illustrations, touched with green, help illustrate how the tricks are done. Bibliography appended. Ilene Cooper