Houdini and Me by Dan Gutman
My name is Zach. I am an eighth grader and live in Ketchum, ID. I enjoy playing board games, reading, mountain biking, Nordic and alpine skiing, playing with my family, snowmobiling, and being outside.
Houdini and Me, a brand new book by one of my all time favorite authors, Dan Gutman, is about Harry Mancini, a kid who lives in Harry Houdini’s old house in New York. Because of that fact, Harry Mancini loves escaping and fooling people. A series of dramatic events cause Harry to find an old flip phone. Harry takes it home, and discovers that this phone can communicate with the other Harry: Harry Houdini from 1926. At first he is skeptical, but then things get even weirder. Harry Houdini asks present-day Harry if he wants to switch places for one hour. Harry Mancini skeptically agrees, thinking it was just a hoax, but before he knows it he is in 1926! Houdini has devised an ingenious plan that could end up leaving the two Harrys in opposite centuries.
This book is written from the point of view of the main character, as if he is talking to you and telling you the story. This first person writing causes you to get sucked in right away, and not want to put it down. I read this entire book in one day, as I could not wait to see how the story ends. And the ending was completely satisfying, and resolves the whole plot, but it leaves you with a mind-boggling question that makes you question reality.
