Preview of The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life Summary:

The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life is a fascinating account of how a writer of children's books trained himself to produce the effects that hold his readers' attention. It is a brief autobiography presenting Fleischman as a character as interesting as any the reader will find in his many books, with the same infectious humor that has made him outstanding. As a humorist, he can be compared to Mark Twain, although he does not claim to have ever attained the literary status of America's premier comic writer.

Twain's wife would sometimes call her husband "youth." There was always something boyish in the way he looked at life.

This quality can be seen in Fleischman as well. His angle of vision brings a fresh way of seeing what goes on around him and an awareness of the absurdities and incongruities of human behavior. In his later years, Twain was...