Children are super smart these days. They aren’t fooled by many things.

And, the children who attended the Troy Public Library’s magic show Tuesday were smart … but they were fooled.

Magician Gary Ledbetter did some amazing tricks that the children in the audience thought they had figured out.

“The ball’s in your pocket!” they squealed in delight, thinking they knew how the trick was done. “It’s in the box! It’s in the box!”

But each time, they were wrong and each time they sighed and settled back down to watch the next magic trick.

Ledbetter is a master magician and his mission is to entertain his audience and, in so doing, encourage people to explore the wonders of the world of magic.

He even took time to explain how some of the magic tricks were done and encouraged the children to try them at home.

The children were entertained. They laughed, squealed and closed their eyes and covered their ears, all in fun until the magician pulled out the big trick.

He picked little Abbie Roblee out of the audience for a daring trick – one that amazed and mystified even the adults in the audience.

“I’m going to hypnotize. Abbie,” the magician said, waving his hand in front of her face. “You are feeling sleepy, very sleepy.”

Abbie closed her eyes and the magician lifted her onto a board balanced between two chairs. “I’m going to blow up a balloon and tie it to Abbie’s feet and then I’m going to remove the chair.”

Ledbetter did as he said and to the amazement, the astonishment, the disbelief of the audience, Abbie’s feet levitated. She was parallel to the floor with nothing holding her feet in the air.

“Oooooh! Aaaaah! Wow! That’s not real? How’d he do that?”

It was, not so simply, magic,” the magician said.

That trick could have been the finale, but it wasn’t. Any magician worth his salt will pull a rabbit out of the hat. Ledbetter didn’t disappoint the children. Out came the rabbit when they least expected it and that was the grand finale that the children will probably remember even after they forget “levitating Abbie,” said Teresa Colvin, TPL children’s librarian.

“Gary Ledbetter the Magician is always extremely popular with the kids,” she said. “We look forward to having him every year. And, every year he does a different show. He kept 100 kids well entertained today and peaked their interest in magic tricks.”

Ledbetter of Montgomery said his goal is to expand the interest of people of all ages in magic.

“I do shows for all ages,” he said. “Or course, the shows I do for adults are much different. I swallow needles and eat fire and that puzzles and amazing adults but kids like the rabbit in the hat kind of show.”

Ledbetter travels extensively with his magic shows. He has done shows in Europe and China, where he is known for his balloon art.

“I build sculptures with balloons, some 50 to 60 feet in height,” he said. “I’ve been interested in magic since I was a kid and it still fascinates me. There are no tricks to tricks.”