Book Review: Wonderstruck

Wonderstruck (*****)
Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick did it again - his story telling, in both words and art, pulled at the heartstrings and made me fall in love with a book. Wonderstruck tells two stories, one entirely in his spectacular pencil sketches and one entirely in text. Both stories feel completely full and realized.

Both stories revolve around children, Rose in 1927 and Ben in the 1970s, who find themselves running away from home on a search for something life-changing. Rose and Ben, when their stories first begin, seem to be very different, but it's not long before their similarities emerge, their stories begin to overlap, and Selznick deftly weaves the tales together.

There are a few things that draw me to Selznick's work. First, he really is a brilliant artist - the drawings feel so life-like - and I love to stare at each picture, finding all the pencil strokes and seeing how he shaped his images. Another aspect of his work that I appreciate is his dedication to research and how he shares real bits of history. For example, he uses several real museum pieces in his story - he could have created a fictionalized exhibit, but instead he shares a bit of reality, something that those who have seen the exhibits can relate to, and those who haven't can add to their bucket list.

I loved this book. I highly recommend it to grade school aged children, parents who read to their children, and adults who are still young at heart.

Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (*****) 
by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a lovely book, both in story and illustration. It follows the adventures of two children as they try to understand the mystery of a wonderful mechanical man that Hugo's father was trying to fix. I loved the description of the early 20th century magicians, how they often began as clock makers or worked with machines, clockworks, and gears in some other form, which lead them to a career as magicians - their inventions were so wonderful and miraculous that an audience could believe it was magic. The story also delves into the early days of cinema and offers the reader a glimpse into a time when movies, by their very nature, had the ability to inspire wonder.

Hugo is an excellent novel and, despite its size, a quick read. I would recommend this to elementary-aged children or anyone who is young-at-heart. I also think this would be a great novel for parents and children to share. I look forward to seeing the movie adaptation this Thanksgiving and checking out Selznick's newest novel Wonderstruck; I noticed it recently in a bookstore and it's illustrations are just as wonderful as they are in Hugo.

Book Review: Frindle

Frindle
by Andrew Clements
illustrations by Brian Selznick
(*****)

** Spoiler Alert **

I love bengoes and bengo-play. And the idea that a young boy, no matter his intentions, created a brand new bengo and that it became so popular that it was eventually added to the dictionary is fantastic. Nick may have come up with the idea to change the bengo for "pen" in an effort to make another move in the chess game he and Mrs. Granger were playing, but I think he really understood the lesson that she was teaching him. He may have decided to waste the class time by making a super-...moreI love bengoes and bengo-play. And the idea that a young boy, no matter his intentions, created a brand new bengo and that it became so popular that it was eventually added to the dictionary is fantastic. Nick may have come up with the idea to change the bengo for "pen" in an effort to make another move in the chess game he and Mrs. Granger were playing, but I think he really understood the lesson that she was teaching him. He may have decided to waste the class time by making a super-long report, but the report was full of good information and he did learn a lot in the process. In the same way, when he created his new bengo, he was taking to heart Mrs. Granger's answer to his question about who creates bengoes: "You do, Nicholas. You and me and everyone in this class and this school and this town and this state and this country...We decide what goes in [the dictionary]" (29-31). Mrs. Granger was passionate about bengoes, and in her creative way, she got her students to be passionate about them too, particularly Nick.

Children can identify with Nick and his issues with school and teachers: not wanting to do homework and being concerned about a tough new teacher. They could also be drawn in by the humor of Nick's clever pranks. But once in, the story provides pretty cool lesson about the power of bengoes and that someone as young as Nick can make a difference, even one as big as creating a brand new bengo. This book is a fun, humorous book that will draw in a reader by a normal, relatable kid and the amazing, but not too impossible, thing he did.

Bengo = Word. Pass it on!

Teaser Tuesday (4)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 
 
"Lucky knew Lincoln had a hard time talking on the phone because he needed both hands for tying knots on a string or a cord. When he was about seven, Lincoln's brain had begun squeezing out a powerful knot-tying secretion that went through his capillaries and made his hands want to tie knots."

~The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron with illustrations by Matt Phelan (pg. 17)