Har­ry Hou­di­ni: The Leg­end of the World’s Great­est Escape Artist is a com­pre­hen­sive biog­ra­phy of the famed magi­cian and illu­sion­ist. It tells Houdini’s sto­ry: his birth in Hun­gary, immi­gra­tion to the Unit­ed States, pover­ty-rid­den child­hood, devel­op­ment as a magi­cian, per­son­al rela­tion­ships, amaz­ing feats, for­ay into cin­e­ma, inter­est in defeat­ing spir­i­tu­al­ists’ quack­ery and enig­mat­ic death. The sto­ry touch­es on Houdini’s Jew­ish back­ground; he was born Erich Weiss and his father was a rab­bi. The book includes rich archival his­tor­i­cal images and mod­ern illus­tra­tions that fur­ther flesh out Houdini’s sto­ry. It is, in fact, jam-packed with infor­ma­tion. The book is best digest­ed bro­ken up into small anec­dotes. The many side­bars tell fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion about a myr­i­ad of sub­jects includ­ing immi­gra­tion, child labor in the U.S., old time dime muse­ums and spir­i­tu­al­ists. The stand-alone sec­tions put Hou­di­ni into an his­tor­i­cal con­text. This thin, excit­ing biog­ra­phy packs a punch. It is rec­om­mend­ed for ages 9 and up.