Magic Tricks

Gosh, I've gotten my cards taken away by teachers on so many occasions...be careful with that! As far as what tricks to perform: I'd recommend learning magic with ungimmicked decks--regular cards. For a couple reasons:

1) You already have plenty of school stuff to carry around in your backpack.
2) The other kids won't be as respectful to your props as an older, paying audience.
3) With a regular deck of cards, you can perform lots of different tricks, as opposed to most gimmicked decks, which only allow you to perform one trick.

As far as which tricks to learn: Short ones are good starting points. Like the "Ambitious Card." You'll want to stay short because you might not have time to, say, perform a 7-minute poker routine before the bell rings and everybody scurries off to class. But a trick with many small parts (like Ambitious Card) can be stopped at any point, and you'll still pack some magic moments in there.

Good luck!

The Invisible Deck is a good one. And it's cheap, too. You can have one person name the color, another the suit, another the number, and then magically show their collectively selected card as the only one that's face down. This is just one example of how bigger isn't always better and, dollar for dollar, is perhaps the best value that Penguin offers.

Pen Through Finger by Matthew Johnson is perfect for school, or you can buy the stealth pen and use someone's borrowed bill