the inventions of Brian Selznick

around our house we have a girl named Isabelle wearing a dark blue beret and a boy named Hugo who has made his stuffed bear into an automaton named Tomtom.  the mechanical man drew this picture.  does it look familiar?  it’s the man in the moon with a rocket in his eye from the film A Trip to the Moon by Georges Melies.

we have been enjoying the work of Brian Selznick.  his novels, Wonderstuck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret are a wonderfully strange mix of story and image–not a picture book, and yet not simply a chapter book either.  i think a middle grades reader would love to read these big books on their own, and we’ve had a great time reading them aloud.

just now you can also enjoy Hugo’s story as a 3D movie!  Andy and i had so much fun catching snowflakes and dodging trains in our theater seats!  exactly what movies should be.