Severn, Bill: Magic Fun for Everyone ©1986 Bill Severn, E.P. Dutton, NY Hardcover, w/dj, 180 pages Also in softcover, perfect-bound

Image courtesy Bryan-Keith Taylor

Comments: Illustrations by Fred Kraus. Bill's magic books provide excellent instruction, not just the "how to". Written with young magicians in mind.

Contents (from book):

1 Introduction

3 Magic With Straws
4 The Hot-Air Straw: floats
7 The Snip-Apart Straw: cut and restored
10 The Straw Game: spectator correctly guesses how many straws

15 With Dollar Bills
16 Dip for a Dollar: only the magician gets the dollar bill
19 The Sock-Away Buck: dollar appears in a sock
22 Million-to-One Wish: dollar appears between two cards
25 The Money Cutter: dollar is apparently cut in two

29 Comedy Tricks
30 The Pen That Writes Any Color: a gag turns into magic
33 The Zero Spell: comedy spelling routine with number cards
36 Spooky Tapping Pencil: a pencil in a cup taps out answers
39 The Sneeze Stopper: a tissue is produced from an empty tube
42 The Strongman Flea: nail bending
45 Aunty Gravity’s Ruler: ruler rises in a paper bag
48 Rap Wrap Ribbon: red ribbon appears in a formerly empty box

51 Here To There
52 Crisscross: follow the leader effect with cross and circle cards
56 The Name That Walks Through a Plate: paper wad passes through a plate
59 The Jumping Circles: a card with a green circle transposes with a card with a red circle
62 Sealed Color Flight: red and black disks transpose in an envelope

65 Mind Benders
66 Reading with Your Fingertips: a book test
69 Magical Chairs: magician predicts which chair will be sat upon
72 It s Magic Time: magician's watch time matches selected time
75 The Spell of the Cut: Magician and spectator each put the same value cards in three envelopes
78 The Invisible Computer: invisible computer divines total value of cards chosen
81 Liquid Thoughts: water changes to the color chosen
85 The Haunted Book: a book swivels on a glass and tips over on its own

89 Card Magic
90 The Royal Joggers: King Queen and Jack cards move through the deck
93 The Double-Guess Countdown: magician guesses the number of cards taken and the value of one card
96 The See-Through Cards: magician determines the top two cards in two piles
98 Bringing a Card to the Top: card move
99 The Pocket Dip: having the spectator choose the selection
100 Computer Card Trick: using the sleight above
102 Find Me My Card: spectator performs a card trick
105 Meet My Assistants: Production of the Queens and Kings
107 The Whole Royal Family: magician produces the Royal Cards from the pocket
110 There’s a Ghost in Your Pocket: a message appears between two cards revealing a selection
113 The Card Detective: A Jack card helps find the selection, then joins it in an envelope
116 Time to Rise: selection rises from the deck
120 Humpty Dumpty Changing Card: the wrong card is used to balance the deck, then turns into the right card

125 Coin Magic
126 The Money Jar: quarter passes into a jar
130 The Magic Money Maker: penny changes to a dime in a paper
133 The Seesaw Nickels and Pennies: Pennies exchange places with Nickels
136 A Coin-Vanishing Envelope: utility
138 Pulse Beat: determine under which cup the quarter was hidden
141 The Money Catch: four quarters are caught in the air to produce a dollar bill in a bag

145 With Rope And String
146 How to Make Your Own Magic Rope: preparing rope
148 A Rope and a Knot from Nowhere: a rope appears, and then a knot appears in the rope
151 Before You Can Count to Three: instant cut and restored
154 Guaranteed by Magic: beads become magically threaded
158 The Ring-String Puzzle: a cut and restored string

16 Paper Magic
164 The Aunt Trap: comedy picture transformation
167 Postage Paid by Magic: invisible stamp becomes real
170 The Invisible Hole: knife through coat
173 Circle Around a Star: a paper cut out changes to match the selected figure
177 The Sliced-Banana Mystery: a variation on the boomerang illusion