Are You Psychic?: The Official Guide for Kids [Hardcover]

Helaine Becker (Author), Claudia Davila (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

What is Extra Sensory Perception (ESP)? Do psychic powers really exist, or can they be explained by science? Joining mysteries of the mind with the natural curiosity of savvy young readers, Are You Psychic? takes a lighthearted look at the paranormal and invites children to test their own potential powers. The book is chock-full of exciting activities to try with friends and amazing ways to test extrasensory abilities. It also exposes the tricks that phony psychics use to fool their audience. Engaging illustrations complement the high-spirited text.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6–Becker introduces mental telepathy, mind reading, aura colors, second sight, fortune telling, pendulum reading, scrying, psychokinesis, and more, and includes activities for readers to test out their psychic abilities. For example, there's the "Good Vibrations Challenge," where all they need is a wire hanger and a friend to attempt dowsing. There's a "Do You See It Aura Not?" task where they try to determine a friend's surrounding color. There's even a "Test Your Own Pet" idea. The writing is chatty, friendly, and not too challenging. Cartoon illustrations and colored boxes offering extra information embellish text. "Think About It!" bubbles are fodder for reflection. In one, the audience is told that the scientific process has its limits and cannot prove that a phenomenon does not exist. In another, it asks, "Might you be giving sensory cues to your pet…? How could you design an experiment to prevent this possibility?" While there is a chapter on fakes and phonies, Becker leans toward a pro-psychic stance. This is a solid offering for kids interested in honing their paranormal skills. It is especially recommended for libraries where the 133's are popular.–Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
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Review

Third eye exercises, colored auras, precognition dream analysis, and scores of other paranormal phenomena are explored, explained and experimented within this psychic treat. (Albany Democrat-Herald )

The author's approach prompts children to think critically about the subject matter and encourages them to draw their own conclusions on whether or not ESP is real...an eye-catching book. (Canadian Children's Book News )

Are You Psychic? rolls age appropriate, quality information (think first year psychology course) into a snazzy package, with the perfect "all about me" perspective that late elementary, early middle school aged kids love. (CM Magazine: Canadian Review of Materials )

Uncanny fun. ***** (out of five) (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Maple Tree Press (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1897066201
• ISBN-13: 978-1897066201
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,746,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Helaine Becker is the bestselling writer of children's fiction, non-fiction and verse. Her Scholastic chapter book series, the Looney Bay All-Stars, has sold over 170,000 copies to date. She also is a two-time winner of the Silver Birch Award; for Boredom Blasters in 2006, and Secret Agent Y.O.U. in 2008. The Insecto-Files has been shortlisted for 2010.

In addition, she is in high demand as a presenter and performer at schools across North America. She has twice been selected for the Canadian Children's Book Week Cross Country tour, travelling to both Yukon and Nunavut to present to school children. She has been a featured speaker at the Frye Festival in New Brunswick, Aloud International Children's Festival in Ontario, Weaving Words Conference in Alberta, Literacy for Life Conference in Saskatchewan, and the Red Cedar Awards in British Columbia. She was also a featured speaker at the 2009 Orange County Children's Book Festival in Costa Mesa, California.

A New York native, she has lived in Toronto for more than 20 years. She has been on the executive board of CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Children's Authors and Illustrators), and is a member of the Writers Union of Canada. She is married with two teenage sons and has the cutest dog in the world, Ella.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hooray! Now we can delude our kids too!!, October 27, 2006

By 

C. Porter "worst human alive" (Manchester, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Are You Psychic?: The Official Guide for Kids (Hardcover)

This book presents information on psychics, dowsing and the paranormal that simply are not factually true.

There's even a part that says to go with your gut feeling when taking a test in school because that's the psychic ability talking. Man, if that actually worked then I'd have gotten straight A's.

Chapter two seems to be about frauds and phonies. Unless this is a list of every person who has ever claimed to have psychic powers then I would say that it's dangerously incomplete.

Please, don't delude your kid with this nonsense. If you're going to get them a fictional book then I would suggest at least getting one that represents itself as such.