You have to practice and you have to study it and then you get to perform it. Magic by design is not the football player and group sports. And so magic is a great opportunity to teach a hobby that sort of is that. It's a complicated one because you don't want to be singled out because it's embarrassing because you want to fit in, but you don't want to just be one of many because you're special and unique and you want to stand out. In fact what I think is nice about this reading level is that you can teach and you're teaching a group who are very anxious to be individuals and also to fit in. “While that's intentional, for those that haven't read the first two books, it's not something that I wanted to do and have it be the moral of the story. And so this is kind of my version of that for intelligent middle grade kids.” You have to unlock this door using this combination and there's a secret staircase and inside will be an envelope and it'll be marked and then more instructions to come.’ Like that's how I would love my life to live. I live in a world hoping that it's immersive theater and that it's David Fincher's 'The Game' and somehow someone's going to pull me aside and say, 'Quick! We need your help. I had just finished and was doing “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” Daniel Handler's series that he penned as Lemony Snicket and I recognized his ability to not only tell a very thrilling story but to be able to impart interesting sentence structure and a sense of humor and a vocabulary, so there was some education involved. “I think because I have such weird likes that kind of run all over the place, putting together a middle grade fiction series was exactly where my brain often sits. On how writing young adult novels fits into his career “Reading and literacy and literature and the tactile book has always been something that's been really important to me growing up,” he says, “and as a parent, even more so.” Interview Highlights Like the first two, “ The Magic Misfits: The Minor Third” is packed with intrigue, villains, magic and friendship between rag-tag, tween-aged protagonists. The third novel in his “Magic Misfits” series hit the shelves this month. Now, over the course of three books, Harris has been sharing his love of magic with young adult readers. He’d save up his allowance, head to the store, and stock up on cards and tricks.Įver since then, he’s been going out of his way to “produce, promote, attend and shine the spotlight onto magic and magicians.” He says growing up in New Mexico, he was “smitten” by his local magic shop, Fool’s Paradise. Neil Patrick Harris is an actor, singer, producer, writer, father, husband and … magician?Ĭome to find out, Harris has a couple tricks up his sleeve. Facebook Email Print 'The Magic Misfits - The Minor Third,' by Neil Patrick Harris.

The magic misfits series in order