Nick is not good at sticking with hobbies, sports, or learning musical instruments but finding a magic trick on a box of cornflakes - a magic trick that works - a magic trick that actually impresses his parents - Nick is hooked. He sets off to learn more magic tricks. This is one hobby that he won't abandon.
His mum is a librarian so she tells him to go to SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY THREE POINT EIGHT. Do you know what that means? She's sending him to the magic books in the library. On the shelf Nick finds the perfect book. It is old and slightly hidden between other books which tells us this is not just a magic book it is THE magic book - the one Nick needs to make his dream come true. But someone else wants this book - The Encyclopedia of Amateur Magic by J. Mesno. The man who wants it calls himself Mr E. He is a verbose man who (Nick will discover) is very dangerous.
I started reading Tricky Nick on a train journey yesterday. The story was okay but it was just meandering along. I was waiting for a jolt, a shock, a moment of delight, an internal question mark followed by an exclamation mark. Then along came a young girl called Trixie and the world slightly shifted. The magic she performs at the meeting of The Brotherhood of United Magicians is spectacular. Nick is blown away. Clearly Trixie is a girl to watch but why is Mr E so dismissive of her obvious talent?
Later in the story I found these lines. I really enjoy the intrusive author voice which Nicholas Johnson uses here - it made me want to race through the book to discover the exciting and weird things that are promised.
"Okay. Let's just stop right here so I can remind you of two things. First, I told you this book was going to take twists and turns and you'd be scratching your head wondering how it could all be true. So don't say I didn't warn you. Second, you chose to read this book. So if it's all too weird and confusing for you, you can put it down now. But if you think you can handle the truth, then you can keep on reading. I promise you, things are going to get more exciting (and weirder)."
Tricky Nick will be published by Pan Macmillan on 25th August, 2020. Readers aged 10+ will enjoy this quirky story of magic, time travel and friendship. Readers may also want to investigate the idea of chaos theory and The Butterfly Effect. Time travel might be fun but travelers from the future must take care in our world. This book is also filled with real magic tricks which do work because the author is actually a professional magician. Nicholas says this book is all true (probably not) but perhaps some parts are autobiographical?
Here is a summary from the front cover of my advance copy (thanks to Beachside Bookshop) of Tricky Nick: "This story is full of magic tricks and secrets, intrigue, humour, heart, time travel, baddies, heroes, adventure ... "
This is also a book with some terrific words: stultiloquent, chrestomathy, athenaeum, enigmatic, chicaney.
You might also like to read more about female magicians. In this book, Nicholas J Johnson mentions Adelaide Herrmann, Celeste Evans, and Lady Frances. Here is a recent picture book biography about Adelaide Herrmann published by Walker Books (Candlewick).
Take a look at this picture book about The Butterfly Effect:
Would follow this book with these:
No comments:
Post a Comment