Horten's Incredible Illusions: Magic, Mystery & Another Very Strange Adventure

by Lissa Evans

Overview

This magical follow-up to Hortens Miraculous Mechanisms continues Stuarts amazing adventures--with more enchantment, more surprises, and more thrills. When we last left 10-year-old Stuart, he had just recovered his great-uncle Tonys long-lost magic workshop. Now all the priceless tricks are on display in the Beeton Museum--and Stuart is junior curator of the exhibit! But another mystery awaits Stuart: Where did the great magician hide his will? Only by entering the magic world of the workshop can he find the answer. But as the mechanisms whisk him off on increasingly incredible adventures, the puzzles become harder and harder to solve…and the stakes higher. With even more page-turning action, this second book in the exciting middle-grade series does a magic trick of its own: its even better than the first!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402798719
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	09/04/2012
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lissa Evans, who resides in London with her husband and two daughters, has traveled quite a mysterious path to middle-grade novelist. After a brief career in medicine and an even briefer one in stand-up comedy, Lissa became a comedy producer and spent a decade running a red pencil through other peoples work before eventually beginning to write herself. Lissa has written three adult novels and a picture book. This is her second work of middle-grade fiction.

Editorial Reviews

Stuart Horten, 10, is back for a second mysterious adventure.. . .it's still rollicking good fun and often engagingly suspenseful, perfect for a quick read or entertaining read-aloud.” --Kirkus Reviews

"Children will delight in Stuart's adventures-which are infused with humor, and clamor for the next installment.” -- School Library Journal
 
“Evans does a clever job of getting all that happened in Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms (2012) into the first couple of pages of this sequel, so readers can get the backstory out of the way and start the new adventure. And adventure it is. Stuart Horten, who found his great-uncle Tony's magic tricks in the previous book, now must use those tricks to locate his will. Once again there are plenty of clues to figure out, puzzles to solve, and codes to break. The fun is enhanced when May and June, along with sister April, join the search. Old and new fans will find this good Booklist

From the Publisher

Stuart Horten, 10, is back for a second mysterious adventure. Previously, in Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms (2012), he discovered the hiding place of his Great-Uncle Tony's magic-making paraphernalia--stage equipment from his magic show. Now, with the help of intrepid reporter and next-door-neighbor triplet April, he intends to find out what the mechanisms do. There's an added bit of pressure: Hidden somewhere in the magical contrivances is Tony's will, which conveys ownership of all the tricks to whoever finds it. A mysterious elderly woman from Canada would like to be that person, so Stuart and April have to work hard and fast. Each mechanism, when successfully triggered, creates an intriguing and sometimes perilous trap for the pair to escape. April's siblings, May and June, unwind a little from their previous aloof attitude and begin to help out as well. Other colorful characters, briefly sketched but neatly depicted, meander through the tale. Horten's dad, known for his enthusiastic overuse of an extensive vocabulary, is joined by museum curator Rod Felton. They take turns throwing around bewildering (but funny) Latin terms, their incomprehensibility enhancing Horten's and readers' sense of living in a world separate from adults. While this outing lacks the notable magical impact of the first of the series, it's still rollicking good fun and often engagingly suspenseful, perfect for a quick read or entertaining read-aloud. (Mystery. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews