Bluebonnet Book: The Vanishing Coin
Author: Kate Egan with Magician Mike Lane
Illustrator: Eric Wight
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Illustrator: Eric Wight
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Major Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Nominee 2015-2016
Age Group: 8-10 years old
Mike is a 4th grader who always seems to be getting in trouble and spends a lot of his time visiting the principal's office. Due to his behavior, his parents say he's no longer aloud to play soccer and is only aloud to be with his neighbor Nora who is incredibly smart. One day Mike and Nora discover a store called the White Rabbit, and odd store with a special secret inside. The owner of the store Mr. Zerlin is a magician, when Mike and Nora come into the store they are both excited and intrigued by everything they see. As Nora was browsing around the store Mr. Zerlin began to show Mike some magic tricks. Mike was fascinated and began picking up on Mr. Zerlin's tricks and wanted to learn more. Mike even asked Mr. Zerlin if he could teach him, and just from that one interaction, Mr. Zerlin knew that one day Mike would make a great magician. Before they left the store Mike bought himself and Nora two pairs of chattering teeth, but the next day when he went to school a bully named Jackson who was always mean to Mike knocks down the teeth and brakes them. That same day after school Mike and Nora go back to The White Rabbit and almost as if he could read his mind Mr. Zerlin said: "back for more chattering teeth". Both Mike and Nora are incredibly fascinated by the store, and as they're walking through discover a secret room filled with magical objects for magicians; there Mr. Zerlin began to show Mike all about magic and how to execute some magic tricks. The more Mike delved into magic the more confident he became, and he even began to improve in school. Before magic, if he didn't understand something in school he would get frustrated, upset, and lash out which would often be the reason he was sent to the principal. Magic taught him patience and focus. As he began to improve his magic he took the skills he'd learned and applied them to his schooling and started to improve. Magic helped Mike a lot, it even gave him the courage to stand up to his bully Jackson by tricking him with a magic trick. Through magic Mr. Zerlin also taught Mike an important lesson about believing, believing in himself and believing in magic. One day Mike's dad hadn't come to pick them up so both Mike and Nora were worried to be by themselves at night and wished they had a phone to call Mike"s dad and out of nowhere they saw something they had never seen before a phone booth among the trees. Neither Mike nor Nora had a quarter to pay for the booth until all of a sudden Mike reached into his pocket and there was a huge pile of coins. For a moment Mike thought it could be magic real magic like the one he sometimes believed Mr. Zerlin had, and as he looked out the misty glass of the phone booth he saw the word believe written.
The Vanishing Coin is such a cute and fun book that students would really enjoy. I believe this would make an excellent addition to any 3rd-5th-grade classroom library. Although it may not be specifically linked to a lesson in class, it is a beautiful story of a boy finding his passion. Perhaps one of the coolest parts of the entire book is after everytime Mike perfects a magic trick there is a how to page that gives instructions on how to execute the magic trick. We have spoken in class about exposing students to different types of writing such as books, articles, how-tos, and poems, this is definitely a creative way to do it. Not only could students read the novel they could also read the magic trick instructions and maybe even try to do some of the tricks themselves.
Age Group: 8-10 years old
Mike is a 4th grader who always seems to be getting in trouble and spends a lot of his time visiting the principal's office. Due to his behavior, his parents say he's no longer aloud to play soccer and is only aloud to be with his neighbor Nora who is incredibly smart. One day Mike and Nora discover a store called the White Rabbit, and odd store with a special secret inside. The owner of the store Mr. Zerlin is a magician, when Mike and Nora come into the store they are both excited and intrigued by everything they see. As Nora was browsing around the store Mr. Zerlin began to show Mike some magic tricks. Mike was fascinated and began picking up on Mr. Zerlin's tricks and wanted to learn more. Mike even asked Mr. Zerlin if he could teach him, and just from that one interaction, Mr. Zerlin knew that one day Mike would make a great magician. Before they left the store Mike bought himself and Nora two pairs of chattering teeth, but the next day when he went to school a bully named Jackson who was always mean to Mike knocks down the teeth and brakes them. That same day after school Mike and Nora go back to The White Rabbit and almost as if he could read his mind Mr. Zerlin said: "back for more chattering teeth". Both Mike and Nora are incredibly fascinated by the store, and as they're walking through discover a secret room filled with magical objects for magicians; there Mr. Zerlin began to show Mike all about magic and how to execute some magic tricks. The more Mike delved into magic the more confident he became, and he even began to improve in school. Before magic, if he didn't understand something in school he would get frustrated, upset, and lash out which would often be the reason he was sent to the principal. Magic taught him patience and focus. As he began to improve his magic he took the skills he'd learned and applied them to his schooling and started to improve. Magic helped Mike a lot, it even gave him the courage to stand up to his bully Jackson by tricking him with a magic trick. Through magic Mr. Zerlin also taught Mike an important lesson about believing, believing in himself and believing in magic. One day Mike's dad hadn't come to pick them up so both Mike and Nora were worried to be by themselves at night and wished they had a phone to call Mike"s dad and out of nowhere they saw something they had never seen before a phone booth among the trees. Neither Mike nor Nora had a quarter to pay for the booth until all of a sudden Mike reached into his pocket and there was a huge pile of coins. For a moment Mike thought it could be magic real magic like the one he sometimes believed Mr. Zerlin had, and as he looked out the misty glass of the phone booth he saw the word believe written.
The Vanishing Coin is such a cute and fun book that students would really enjoy. I believe this would make an excellent addition to any 3rd-5th-grade classroom library. Although it may not be specifically linked to a lesson in class, it is a beautiful story of a boy finding his passion. Perhaps one of the coolest parts of the entire book is after everytime Mike perfects a magic trick there is a how to page that gives instructions on how to execute the magic trick. We have spoken in class about exposing students to different types of writing such as books, articles, how-tos, and poems, this is definitely a creative way to do it. Not only could students read the novel they could also read the magic trick instructions and maybe even try to do some of the tricks themselves.
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