Brian Selznick Reviews

Brian Selznick  The Invention of Hugo Cabret; illus. by the author
     534 pp. Candlewick
     Reviewed 3/07
Here’s a dilemma for the Newbery committee . . . and the Caldecott: what do you do with an illustrated novel in which neither text nor pictures can tell the story alone? Not to mention the drama to be found in the page turns themselves. A brief introduction sets the time (1931) and place (Paris) and invites readers to imagine they’re at the movies. And with a turn of the page, they are, as, over a sequence of twenty-one double-page wordless spreads, a story begins. A picture of the moon gives way to an aerial shot of Paris; day breaks as the “camera” moves into a shot of a train station, where a boy makes his way to a secret passage from which, through a peephole, he watches an old man sitting at a stall selling toys. Finally, the text begins: “From his perch behind the clock, Hugo could see everything.” The story that follows in breathtaking counterpoint is a lively one, involving the dogged Hugo, his tough little ally Isabelle, an automaton that can draw pictures, and a stage magician turned filmmaker, the real-life Georges Méliès, most famously the director of A Trip to the Moon (1902). There is a bounty of mystery and incident here, along with several excellent chase scenes expertly rendered in the atmospheric, dramatically crosshatched black-and-white (naturally) pencil drawings that make up at least a third of the book. (According to the final chapter, and putting a metafictional spin on things, there are 158 pictures and 26,159 words in the book.) The interplay between the illustrations (including several stills from Méliès’s frequently surreal films and others from the era) and text is complete genius, especially in the way Selznick moves from one to the other, depending on whether words or images are the better choice for the moment. And as in silent films, it’s always just one or the other, wordless double-spread pictures or unillustrated text, both framed in the enticing black of the silent screen. While the bookmaking is spectacular, and the binding secure but generous enough to allow the pictures to flow easily across the gutter, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is foremost good storytelling, with a sincerity and verbal ease reminiscent of Andrew Clements (a frequent Selznick collaborator) and themes of secrets, dreams, and invention that play lightly but resonantly throughout. At one point, Hugo watches in awe as Isabelle blithely picks the lock on a door. “How did you learn to do that?” he asks. “Books,” she answers. Exactly so. R.S.

Kerley, Barbara  Walt Whitman: Words for America; illus. by Brian Selznick
     56 pp. Scholastic
     Reviewed 11/04
This movingly illustrated picture book biography focuses on the Civil War years. In well-crafted prose, Kerley stresses the poet’s love of words and his compassion for the common people. Selznick extends the text with glorious colored-pencil drawings. The quoted lines are carefully chosen, and more complete versions of the poems are included in the back matter. Bib.

Martin, Ann M. and Godwin, Laura  The Meanest Doll in the World; illus. by Brian Selznick
     268 pp. Hyperion
     Reviewed 11/03
In this sequel to The Doll People, the authors clearly know the contemporary world of dolls and the way kids play with them, mixing in action figures and dollhouse dolls with baby dolls and trolls and paper dolls and Lego structures. The book’s broad humor and action balance with smaller, more personal dramas, and Selznick’s illustrations, in their wit and profusion, tie it all together in one appealing package.

Clements, Andrew  The School Story; illus. by Brian Selznick
     197 pp. Simon
     Reviewed 7/01
Natalie writes a whole book and gets it published under the eye of her unsuspecting mother, a children’s book editor, who only knows that she has an exciting manuscript from an unknown author. Family read-aloud and publishing comedy are two genres you don’t often see brought together, but that’s exactly what Clements has done here. The occasional pencil illustrations are warm and witty.

Godwin, Laura  Barnyard Prayers; illus. by Brian Selznick
     32 pp. Hyperion
     Reviewed 3/00
Illustrated by Brian Selznick. A series of eighteen brief poems are, the illustrations reveal, spoken by a “farmer” who is in fact a small city boy putting his toy farm to bed. Each poem is an exercise in empathy; and because they are prayers, they evoke not only the care between child and toy, farmer and animals, and parent and child, but also that between Creator and creature. Acrylic paintings in super-saturated colors suggest an Eden of the imagination.

Farber, Norma  The Boy Who Longed for a Lift; illus. by Brian Selznick
     32 pp. HarperCollins/Geringer
     Reviewed 5/97
A boy feeling displaced by a new baby heads out into the world. Tiring, he asks for a lift, trying various modes of transportation. When he returns home at last, he walks straight into his father’s arms-- the ‘lift’ he’d needed all along. The rhyming text is buoyant, but it’s the art and design that inspire excitement. The balance of humor and adventure with intensely felt and conveyed emotional power is rare and most welcome.

Conrad, Pam  Our House: The Stories of Levittown; illus. by Brian Selznick
     69 pp. Scholastic
     Reviewed 11/95
Rich in connotative details, this collection uses the history of Levittown, that quintessential post- World War II Long Island suburb, as the organizing principle underlying six finely crafted short stories. Elegant pen-and-ink drawings are thoughtfully placed at the beginning of each chapter, suggesting the gradual metamorphosis of the community.

Conrad, Pam  Doll Face Has a Party!; illus. by Brian Selznick
     32 pp. HarperCollins/Geringer
     Reviewed 1/95
Doll Face, a fun-loving toy personage with considerable charm and enviable poise, is imbued with life, but within the range permitted by human imagination. She is first and foremost a doll and works within this framework to solve problems. The appealing story centers on Doll Face’s search for music and Sweet Cake as she plans a party. Boldly patterned, richly textured illustrations imaginatively extend the mood.

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