Selznick, Brian
The Invention of Brian Selznick
When Brian Selznick finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret, he knew he liked it. The last two and a half years of his life had been dedicated to creating this book that was somehow more than an illustrated novel. Because it was about a filmmaker, Brian decided to treat entire swaths of the story graphically, like a camera swooping through the air and catching moments and images that cannot be told in words. “I had no idea if anyone would want to read it and what anyone would make of it,” recalls the now Caldecott Award-winning illustrator. He decided that “If no one liked it, I would take what I learned and use it toward the next book.”
Now, Brian is “amazed at the incredibly wide range of people who read the book.” At booksignings, his fans range from very small children to teens and even teachers. Educators have found Hugo especially rich for use in the classroom.
“One of the fun things I’ve been hearing from teachers is the various ways they share it with their class,” the author says. “It allows them to engage in discussion with the kids about what they see and that brings up the whole idea of reading the images.”
Visual literacy is increasingly important in today’s fast-moving world and Hugo Cabret provides a common ground for discussing and understanding it. “I like hearing about how they engage the kids in discussing what they are seeing as the pages are turned, and the students are part of the narrative in a way they may not be when it is just text-based.” Brian concludes that students “can read the pictures back to the teacher.” Brian is the first to confess that he didn’t think about these approaches when he created the book, “but I’ve been so happy hearing all the ways the book is being used and embraced,” he adds.
Looking through Brian Selznick’s past work, one is struck by the wide range of stories he tells, both as author/illustrator as in The Invention of Hugo Cabret and as illustrator for other authors including two Sibert Honor Books, Walt Whitman: Words for America and When Marian Sang.
Some of his most popular collaborations have been The Doll People books written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin. For most illustrated books, there is very little give and take between the author and the artist. It’s just the nature of the process. With the Annabelle and Tiffany stories, Brian begins the illustrations once he has information about the new characters. Brian builds elaborate models of the dollhouse and its inhabitants so that when Mean Mimi from The Meanest Doll in the World comes into action, she really goes through the paces. The newest Doll People book, The Runaway Dolls, will be coming out in the fall of 2008. In one scene, Brian recreates a toy store from the perspective of the dolls. Take a close look when you get your copy and you’ll see toys and games created from his fertile imagination including the game, “Where’s Grandpa’s Hat?”
Another celebrated collaboration is Brian Selznick and Pam Muñoz Ryan. It almost didn’t happen: “I loved Riding Freedom and the fact that it’s a true story. I found out from my editor that she was working on a story about Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt,” Brian remembers. He was disappointed that the manuscript had been sent to other illustrators. However, those other illustrators turned down the manuscript and Brian was brought on board.
“I imagined it being a 1930s musical.” Fans of classic movies will notice a resemblance between the opening sequence of the book and the first Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire movie, Flying Down to Rio. “I loved the idea of exploring the story of these two exciting independent strong-minded women who meet each other, become friends and go on this adventure together.”
During his research for Amelia and Eleanor, Brian gathered up several pictures of Eleanor Roosevelt with other famous women. When an uncle told Brian about Eleanor Roosevelt at Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial, Brian passed the story along to Pam who immediately became inspired to write a story. The two of them took the story to their editor at Scholastic and Brian began the research. “That’s what I love about the work I’ve done–I’ve gotten to learn about these moments in history that I may not have learned about otherwise,” explains Brian. “When you spend a year or two researching them, surrounded by their photographs, you start to feel connected to them.”
Perhaps that’s what makes Brian Selznick such a gifted storyteller both in art and in word. He digs until he has a deep understanding of his subject and connects us to the courageous strength of Marian, the restless creativity of Hugo, the deep loss of Waterhouse Hawkins, the quiet wisdom of Walt Whitman and the exhilaration of Amelia and Eleanor.
– Interview by Ellen Myrick, February 2008
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