Want to see something amazing? I can make myself disappear. All it takes is a little magic... Mike's magic tricks have helped him learn how to focus, earn extra credit, improve his reputation and stand up for himself. But his new confidence is about to face its biggest challenge yet - the school talent show! Mike signs up immediately. After all, what magician would pass up the chance to perform on a real stage? But then, he learns that Nora, his friend and trusted magician's assistant, has a massive case of stage fright. And Jackson will be sitting in the audience, just waiting to cause trouble... If things keep going wrong, Mike might need a magic trick to help him disappear!

This work revisits the golden age of theatrical magic and silent film to reveal how professional magicians shaped the early history of cinema. The author treats cinema and stage magic as overlapping practices that together revise our understanding of the origins of motion pictures and cinematic spectacle.

"Magic tricks with instructions inside!"--Cover.

Professional magician Joshua Jay's (author of Magic: The Complete Course) brief and fascinating essays offer an inside look at how the very best magicians think about magic, how they practice and put together a show, what inspires them, and the psychology behind creating wonder and being tricked when we expect both, as well as why we seek magic in the first place.

"Adapted by Louise Dickson from the book The vanishing cat"--T.p. verso.

Mike is doing better in school these days. Learning magic helps him to learn other things as well. Sure, he's gotten in trouble in the past, but things are different now. So why does everyone still think he's the same old Mike? If only there was a magic trick to change his reputation... Then, during one of his visits to The White Rabbit Magic Shop, Mike finds something that could be even better than a magic trick—it's possible that Mike could be related to Harry Houdini—the greatest magician ever! But when Mike lets the news slip, and Jackson Jacobs dares him to prove it, he knows that he's in the type of bind that only magic can help him escape!

"Magic tricks with instructions inside!"--Jacket.