The Story of the Great Houdini

Over the summer, the kids and I read two Sid Fleischman books that we enjoyed both for their storytelling and their ingenuity, The Whipping Boy and By the Great Horn Spoon! (the first of these of course being a Newberry winner). While searching for more from Fleischman on the Libby app during our long drive across the Western States, this biography of Henry Houdini was the only title I found available.

A Little about Houdini and the Book

Although I own Houdini: The Handcuff King, a graphic novel written by Jason Lutes with artwork by Nick Bertozzi, I’ve yet to read it. I’ve actually always been curious by this enigma of a man who kept a whole generation spellbound, and especially about the events that led to his death—what I’d always heard was a sucker punch while his head was under water, though of course, that version of history is way more dramatic than reality.

Fleischman fills this well-written, entertaining book with all the necessary details of Houdini’s life, beginning with his less-than-mysterious boyhood. We see him learn some early tricks of the magic trade, try to make it as an unknown name in the field, until he began to develop more and more daring illusions and escapes and kept the world guessing at his secrets.

He eventually took his trade global, traveling and performing in Europe, though dark clouds seem to have followed him throughout. It was his ventures into spiritism that really struck a chord with me as I read this book. Along with other important figures like author Arthur Conan Doyle and Percy Harrison Fawcett, Houdini was known to attend (and perform in his own tricky way) seances in his constant search for answers to the questions that kept his mind captive. He never did find those answers, and—unlike his skilled his profession—he remained bound in doubt and a deep, inescapable sorrow that tainted his life until the end.

A Little about the Style of the Book

Fleishman’s dealing with these dark, personal issues surprised me, as I was figuring on this being a biography for children, with most of the rough parts ignored. Instead, this type of story is right at my level—and I say that as an educated 42yo!

Of course, I love reading authors like Edmund Morris and David McCullough, and I fully appreciate the depth of insight they give into the backgrounds and lives of their subjects, but sometimes it’s really just too much. As fascinating a particular fact might be to the researcher, most readers don’t need to read about every insight; like, say the time a subject’s 3rd cousin went on an alcoholic binge with a college friend who turned out to be (What!?) Winston Churchill!—or whatever the random fact might be. There’s a reason those historians and biographers write 700+-page tomes, and “unnecessary tidbits” is part of that reason.

Many historical figures fascinate me, but I can only read so much. I’d love to find shorter biographies like this about them. It’s basically what the Heroes of the Faith series by Barbour Publishing offers, or the secular Who Was… or Who Is… series by Grosset and Dunlap. These shorter books offer enough info either to scratch the itch or to whet the appetite, and if a reader then wants to go deeper, there’s plenty more out there to pursue.

Coinclusion

For me, this short foray into the life of Henry Houdini was enough to scratch the itch. I’m sure I’ll return to The Handcuff King eventually, but for now I can turn my attention elsewhere.

©2025 E.T.