. . . . the latest fad at the Semicolon family homeschool. Karate Kid (9) borrowed about ten magic books at the library this morning, and now everyone is walking around with a deck of cards in one hand and a wand made of black consruction paper in the other.

Even Bethy Bee (7) is instructing me to “pick a card.”

It’s what Gregg Harris called “delight-directed studies.” Maybe Houdini started out this way. Or Henry Gondorff.

Karate Kid says that this book, The Magic Book by Jane Bull, published by Dorling Kindersley, was the best one of the lot. Keep in mind that he’s nine years old. I think the large photographic illustrations were helpful in showing him exactly how the tricks worked.