 Listening Library presents Who Was Harry Houdini by Tui T. Sutherland, read for you by Kevin Pariseau. Who was Harry Houdini? Who was Harry Houdini? Most people know that he was a famous magician, but did you know that he was also a movie star, a pilot, an acrobat, and a writer? Harry Houdini didn't even really like the word magician. He preferred to call himself an escape artist. He said he could break out of anything, handcuffs, jail cells, straight jackets, chains, padlocked boxes, iron cages, anything. People challenged Houdini to escape from all sorts of weird things in all sorts of weird places, and he always succeeded. Why do people still find him so fascinating? For one thing, a lot of what he did has never been done by anyone else. Many of his tricks are still mysteries, and he told so many fantastic stories about his life that sometimes it's hard to know what was true and what wasn't. We also don't know why he did all the crazy and dangerous things that he did. Was it to impress people? Was it because he thought it would make him rich? Or was it because he wanted to be the best in the world at something, and he wanted the world to know it? Harry Houdini was certainly a very talented escape artist. More importantly, he was determined. What Houdini wanted, Houdini got. And Houdini wanted attention, lots of it. In a time before television and movies, Harry Houdini became famous all over the world. Everybody knew who he was. He made sure of that. Can you imagine somebody getting famous today without using TV, computers or movies? But being famous was very important to Houdini, and his dream came true. Even now, more than 75 years after his death, he is still...