Kirkus calls HOUDINI’S LIBRARY by Barb Rosenstock “a compelling and wholly original tale . . . Pure magic” in starred review

Houdini’s Library: How Books Created the World's Greatest Magician
Author: Barb Rosenstock
Illustrator: Mar Delmar
Review Issue Date: December 1, 2025
Online Publish Date: October 25, 2025
Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: February 17, 2026
Section: Children's

Anyone interested in magic has likely heard of Harry Houdini; less well known is the crucial role books played in his escapades.

Born into a Hungarian rabbi’s family in 1874, Erik Weisz (as he was then known) was 4 when his father sought a better life in Appleton, Wisconsin. As Rosenstock applies her considerable research to document how a poor immigrant with little formal education became a world-famous entertainer, she weaves in her subject’s lifelong appreciation for and acquisition of magic books—a collection that grew to 15,000 volumes. Although Erik was devastated when job loss forced his father to sell his library, the boy later found a secondhand magic book by Jean Robert-Houdin that inspired a career, stage name, and passion for developing his own library. Rosenstock tells a compelling and wholly original tale, accompanied by Delmar’s stunning 3-D dioramas; created with cut paper and gouache, they employ multiple light sources to yield intricate interior and exterior scenes contrasting glowing illumination and shadowy depth. Miniature postcards, posters, and pages featuring diagrams depict milestones: Houdini’s marriage to a circus performer, his travels across America and Europe, and his feats of escape from locked chains or submersion in water. A particularly striking composition shows repeated images of the magician swirling through light-filled strips of paper paired with the words: “Books are Harry’s greatest escape. They spark imagination. They bring the past to life.” Pure magic.
(author’s and illustrator’s notes, photographs, sources) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)