The Spirit Glass: A Book of Magically Hidden Images

by Justin Heimberg

Overview

The greatest "can you find it" book ever wasn't technologically possible until now. Using MagicView, a proprietary technology for hiding and revealing images in print, readers must follow the clues that appear in this book to know where — and how — to place the Spirit Glass decoder to bring unseen images to light. Pressing the clear MagicView lens, here called "The Spirit Glass," over the page and positioning it correctly can reveal up to eight images in one space — superimposed on each other, but revealed as separate and distinct images when the lens is rotated. In 13 imaginative spreads, readers will use the Spirit Glass to find ten ghosts in a haunted house, seek out nine skeletons hidden in a graveyard, uncover hidden messages in invisible spider webs and much, much more!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934734490
Publisher:	Seven Footer Entertainment LLC
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 12.10(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	8 Years

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2–5—This novelty book can only be read with the "spirit glass" included. Readers use the holographic-type device to reveal "hidden" pictures and messages on seemingly blank pages. As the book goes on, puzzles are more complicated to decipher and less direction is included about where and how to look, giving readers a chance to test their skills. The fun continues online, with a companion website that uses clues from the book to solve additional puzzles. The illustrations are full of typical supernatural imagery from black cats to gothic gravestones to a spread of a Ouija board. The book has high child appeal, but the reliance on the "spirit glass" to enjoy and decode it may not stand up to repeated library use. Better suited for gift-giving.—Amy Commers, South St. Paul Public Library, MN

School Library Journal

Readers are challenged to unlock the secrets of a haunted house, with the aid of a "magic glass."

"Open at your own risk!" declares a message on the inside cover of the book, just above an elegant envelope. As if this isn't spooky enough, a skeleton's arm wreathed in smoke points at the envelope from below. Inside the sealed envelope is a rectangle of plastic, 2" x 3 1/4" and 1/8" thick, bordered with a design featuring the sun and the moon.Illustrations and three pages of instructions explain how to use the lens; placing it over selected images in the book guides readers/sleuths, providing clues, code keys and answers. There are 10 two-page spreads, spooky tableaux in mostly dark hues, nicely designed by Junko Miyakoshi. These include a Ouija board; a desk with old books, a candelabra, a skull and three crystal balls (readers choose their own fates from among them); a graveyard; mystery journals; even the gates of Hades.Instructions are in verse, each about a dozen lines per spread. Some aresolid enough ("The dead it seems are quite alive / Buzzing in their graveyard hive"), but most are awkward near-rhymes ("Now that you have found your ghosts / It's time to look for UFO's"). The book ends with an answer key. And a bonus! A website (TheSpiritGlass.com) with 13 more puzzles.

Cool ideas, good execution, mediocre text. (Puzzle book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews