On a hot day, families gathered at the Escalon Library for a magical experience. As part of the Summer Reading Program offered at the library, a special guest appearance by Magic Dan the magician mesmerized those on hand for the July 12 festivities.

Bay Area native Magic Dan combined humor, illusions and sleight of hand tactics to entertain both kids and adults. Magic Dan also stressed the importance of the Summer Reading Program.

“I am very old school. I spent my time (as a young boy) reading books on magic, and it helped mold me into the magician that I am today. Reading is very important. Nowadays, and I am not saying it is good or bad, but today many kids will learn magic through YouTube videos. I am a big believer that if you watch videos on something you are just imitating it, but if you read it you are using your imagination and that will always stick in your mind,” said the veteran magician.

Magic Dan began the show by letting the kids know the three magic words for his show: “I Am Special.” Those words were shouted from the large audience on hand whenever Magic Dan needed assistance with the trick. Tricks and illusions included floating money, turning peanut butter into jelly, making water disappear from a paper cup, making a ketchup bottle disappear from a brown lunch bag, mind blowing card tricks and finished with turning a blank coloring book into a full color coloring book for his finale.

“You have to know your audience. So my act depends on who is in the audience. My shows vary from library shows for the young kids, to corporate office and that’s where my illusion and magic acts are taken to the next level, so to speak,” Magic Dan noted. “Today was about entertaining the kids and parents. But it was also about promoting the importance of reading.”

Magic Dan used volunteers from the audience to help out with numerous parts of his act, all resulting in oohs and aahs and smiles on the faces of everyone involved.