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Summary
Summary
For his birthday, Calvin's mother gives him two tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent (magician and hypnotist extraordinaire!). Even though Mama hints that his little sister, Trudy, would love to go, Calvin doesn't hesitate to invite his friend Rodney instead.
The boys return home greatly impressed by the magician's performance. When Calvin's mother goes out, she leaves him in charge of Trudy. It's a job Calvin dislikes because his sister does not want to be left out of anything. So Calvin and Rodney include her--by making her the first subject for their own hypnotizing machine.
Much to the boys' surprise, the machine works. But unfortunately they cannot undo what they have done. Trudy is stuck in her trance, convinced she is a dog--panting, drooling, and barking at squirrels. The only problem is, Calvin can't remember Lomax's magic word--Probuditi!--so Trudy won't snap out of it!
The boys are worried and decide to take Trudy to the one man they know can solve their problem--but will Lomax help them? Mama is on her way home . . . Who will have the last laugh?
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-Van Allsburg's latest story opens with a spider and a scream coming from Trudy (offstage), caused by an older brother's prank. Although Calvin's mother is none too pleased with her son, she honors his birthday with tickets for a magician/hypnotist. When the boy and his friend witness the strutting and clucking of a pearl-clad matron who believes she's a chicken, they can't wait to build their own rotating spiral disk. With Mom at the beauty parlor, the moment is ripe with Van Allsburgian possibility, and the artist delivers with fresh and funny scenes. Under hypnosis, Trudy becomes a dog. The suspense builds as the boys struggle to remember the word that will break the spell. The highly textured pastel and pencil drawings, rendered in a range of warm browns, are offset by creamy, rich backgrounds. The sepia look is well suited to the '40s setting. The masterful compositions display the depth, varied viewpoints, and marvelous mixture of patterns and surfaces that readers have come to expect from the artist. The expressions and postures of the African-American heroine are hilarious. Probuditi! displays a clear sympathy for the thankless role of a younger sibling; however, while Calvin is howling at the memory of his sister "barking and drooling," it is she who has the very satisfying last laugh (offstage).-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The magic in Van Allsburg's new book Probuditi! has been domesticated. Instead of supernatural powers sending rhinos charging through the living room, as in Jumanji, or spacemen falling through the ceiling, as in Zathura, Calvin, the protagonist of Probuditi!, employs a simple magician's trick to set the story in motion. Calvin and his buddy Rodney attend a performance by Lomax the Magnificent where the magician, by means of a rotating spiral disc, hypnotizes a woman and convinces her that she is a chicken. At the end of the show, Lomax says, "Probuditi!" and the woman snaps out of her trance. Inspired, Calvin makes his own rotating disc and manages to hypnotize his sister, Trudy, into thinking that she's a dog. Calvin and Rodney thoroughly enjoy Trudy's canine antics until they realize that Calvin's mom will soon be home, and they can't remember the magic word to reverse the spell. After several frantic dehypnotizing tries, it all works out with a little quiet help from Trudy. Although I miss the sense of otherworldly beauty that Van Allsburg achieved in some of his earlier books, particularly The Wreck of the Zephyr, the vaudevillian spirit of Probuditi! gives the artist a chance to make some very funny pictures. The lady Lomax hypnotizes struts around an imaginary barnyard like a crazed hen who happens to be wearing pearls and high heels. Trudy laps water from a bowl on the floor with almost embarrassing relish, and squats expectantly like a goofy golden retriever. All the characters and the scenes they inhabit seem to come from some iconic 1940s smalltown childhood, which is made all the more nostalgic by the artist wrapping them in a haze of luminosity. This typical "Van Allsburg light" is so effective in the way that it leavens the painstaking solidity of his illustrations and connects the details in a convincing atmosphere. So even though he is not using his light to bathe the classic simplicity of a sailboat floating through the sky, the light in these pictures still works to create the glow that we have come to expect in a Van Allsburg book and to give this homespun tale the quality of a remembered dream. The story of Probuditi! may not involve spacemen or exotic transformations, but it's still about the lure of magic and, this time, it's a magic that maybe any kid can make with a spiral disc and a gullible friend. All ages. (Oct.) Jim McMullan, known for his Lincoln Center Theater posters, has most recently illustrated the picture book I'm Dirty! (HarperCollins/Cotler, Sept.), written by his wife, Kate McMullan, and starring a backhoe loader. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Inspired by the magician he sees on his birthday, Calvin hypnotizes his little sister, making her believe she's a dog. When he can't remember the word to end the spell, he must find a way to restore her before Mama gets home. Beautiful sepia-soaked spreads in Van Allsburg's signature style don't make up for desultory prose and the bland twist at the end. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A rare outing from Van Allsburg, featuring as smooth a case of payback as ever was. Calvin returns from watching a hypnotist's act determined to visit yet another torment on his beleaguered little sister, Trudy, by hypnotizing her. His delight at seeing her barking loudly and capering about like a dog changes to dismay, however, when she fails to snap out of it on command, and then to deep gloom when his frantic efforts to waken her earn him supper-less exile to his room. With sepia-toned, characteristic photorealism, Van Allsburg views his African-American characters from low angles and zeroes in on their animated faces. Trudy-as-a-dog is not only particularly hilarious, with glassy eyes and hanging tongue, but totally convincing, too--until, that is, she makes a sly remark at the end. Smaller siblings everywhere will applaud the elegant way she turns the tables on her big brother. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
As in Jumanji 0 (1981) and Zathura 0 (2002), Van Allsburg creates another story of the mischief and magic that can happen when kids are left alone in the house. Calvin is thrilled when his mother gives him tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent's magic show. He invites his best pal, Rodney, to join him, and together they watch while Lomax hypnotizes a woman with a spiraling wheel until she behaves like a chicken. Later, while Mama is gone, Calvin and Rodney try to hypnotize Calvin's little sister, and they are amazed when they seem to succeed. Unfortunately, they can't remember the words that will break the spell. Even with a closing twist, this story lacks the drama and cohesion of Van Allsburg's previous titles. The nostalgic, double-spread sepia-tone artwork is eye-catching, though, and it will draw kids into the story with angled, theatrical images of a well-dressed woman strutting in a chicken pose and African American Calvin wrestling with his sister and facing his scolding parent. This isn't Van Allsburg's best work, but the accomplished art will attract fans. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist