Best Card Magic Book/Video series with no sleight skills?

[str1pes]

I'm trying to find a hobby to get into with my eleven year old daughter for some fun bonding time. She said she has a slight interest in card magic. I've always been really interested in card magic myself, and at one time, purchased a bunch of decks (regular & trick), books (Card College V1 V2, & Royal Road, etc.) which I still have, but just never took the time to do anything but buy the stuff and never actually cracked the books open.

So, before jumping into the Royal Road or Card College series with her,....if you had ONE book or video series that teaches VERY basic card tricks (self-working) with no slights or hand trickery, what would you recommend? I want to start off super easy to capture her interest and get her confidence up that she can do this in front of her friends. Once she has four or five easy self-working tricks down pat and it hopefully catches her interest, then I want to get into the RR or Card College series with her.

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Gabriel Z.]

If she is eleven years old then I would try a discovery approach rather than solid Book or DVD approach. By this I mean get her familiar with the layout by giving her a deck of cards as a gift. If she catches the magic bug then try Scarne on Card Tricks, that book doesn't require heavy duty sleights. Hope this helps!!

 

[str1pes]

If she is eleven years old then I would try a discovery approach rather than solid Book or DVD approach. By this I mean get her familiar with the layout by giving her a deck of cards as a gift. If she catches the magic bug then try Scarne on Card Tricks, that book doesn't require heavy duty sleights. Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the reply. She does know a little bit of basic card layout. My fam plays war, rummy, poker, and euchre quite a bit. She has a deck of cards that I gave her about three weeks ago.

 

[RealityOne]

Some books that are appropriate for her to read by herself:

The Knack Magic Tricks - This is written by Richard Kauffman who is the editor of Genii Magazine and a very good writer.
Joshua Jay's Big Magic for Little Hands - Josh is one of the founders of Vanishing Magic, has written a number of magic books and is a great guy.

The caveat is that those books cover all magic and not just cards.

For self-working card tricks, I'll second @Gabriel Z.'s recommendation of Scarne on Card Tricks. However, my recommendation is that you read through the book and teach her effects that fit her skill level. There are some great effects in that book.

At that age, you can also have her use gimmicked decks such as a Forcing Deck, Stripper Deck, a Svengali Deck and an Invisible Deck. The Stripper Deck can be used to control a card using a simple riffle shuffle. Mark Wilson's Compete Course in Magic has a section on card magic that has some basic tricks but also teaches effects using double backed cards and double faced cards.

I'd also recommend having her learn the Hindu shuffle and glide. There are a lot of effects she could do using those sleights. My favorite is to force a different backed card using the Hindu shuffle force and then find it with the deck face up and then reveal that it was easy because it has a different back.

 

[str1pes]

Some books that are appropriate for her to read by herself:

The Knack Magic Tricks - This is written by Richard Kauffman who is the editor of Genii Magazine and a very good writer.
Joshua Jay's Big Magic for Little Hands - Josh is one of the founders of Vanishing Magic, has written a number of magic books and is a great guy.

The caveat is that those books cover all magic and not just cards.

For self-working card tricks, I'll second @Gabriel Z.'s recommendation of Scarne on Card Tricks. However, my recommendation is that you read through the book and teach her effects that fit her skill level. There are some great effects in that book.

At that age, you can also have her use gimmicked decks such as a Forcing Deck, Stripper Deck, a Svengali Deck and an Invisible Deck. The Stripper Deck can be used to control a card using a simple riffle shuffle. Mark Wilson's Compete Course in Magic has a section on card magic that has some basic tricks but also teaches effects using double backed cards and double faced cards.

I'd also recommend having her learn the Hindu shuffle and glide. There are a lot of effects she could do using those sleights. My favorite is to force a different backed card using the Hindu shuffle force and then find it with the deck face up and then reveal that it was easy because it has a different back.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[obrienmagic]

I got started when I was about 6 or 7 watching the jaw droppers series. They have a bunch of different types of magic and the skill level is for beginners! 99% involves no sleight of hand.

 

[str1pes]

I got started when I was about 6 or 7 watching the jaw droppers series. They have a bunch of different types of magic and the skill level is for beginners! 99% involves no sleight of hand.

Thanks! I will look into that as well.

 

[HectorE1]

For self working card magic check out Roberto Giobbis card college light series, great routines and effects

 

[EndersGame]

I highly recommend Garcia and Schindler's Magic with Cards: 113 Easy-to-Perform Miracles.

It's an older book that you can pick up for very cheap on amazon and ebay.

All the tricks are very easy to perform, minimal or no sleights, and ideal for beginners. Yet there is some very solid material in it.

Based on what you wrote, I think it's exactly the kind of book you are looking for.

For more info, read a detailed review here.

 

[str1pes]

I highly recommend Garcia and Schindler's Magic with Cards: 113 Easy-to-Perform Miracles.

It's an older book that you can pick up for very cheap on amazon and ebay.

All the tricks are very easy to perform, minimal or no sleights, and ideal for beginners. Yet there is some very solid material in it.

Based on what you wrote, I think it's exactly the kind of book you are looking for.

For more info, read a detailed review here.

Thanks!!!

 

[Weeping Angel]

I reccommend "How to do Miracle Card Tricks" by Ellusionist. I think it's about. $25 and is great for beginners in card magic!

 

[ParkinT]

I think anything by Scarne or Harry Lorayne would be ideal. Those are the 'classics' that I used at the beginning of my exploration of [card] magic (some 50 years ago!).

However, my recommendation is that you read through the book and teach her effects that fit her skill level. There are some great effects in that book.

That is EXCELLENT advice and I echo that idea.

 

[Justin.Morris]

I don't have it but John bannon has some stuff. Destination Zero book and Move Zero 1&2 DVDs.

Might be interesting.

 

[RealityOne]

I don't have it but John bannon has some stuff. Destination Zero book and Move Zero 1&2 DVDs.

Destination Zero just seemed very convoluted and after a while the effects all started to seem the same. I probably have to go back over it again, but it didn't impress me and I'm a huge Bannon fan.