No Case Is Too Big

There are those individuals wired to analyze any given situation.  If presented with a problem, they seek a solution.  They are well-read in their particular field of interest.  They are not surprisingly exceptional in their endeavors.

A new character sure to be highly liked if not downright loved is to be introduced to readers on February 27, 2018.  He seeks.  He reads.  He is gifted.  Baby Monkey, Private Eye (Scholastic Press) story by Brian Selznick and David Serlin with pictures by Brian Selznick is a delightful blend of mystery, humor and the unexpected.

WAIT!
Who 
is
Baby
Monkey?

Obviously he's a baby and a monkey but what you don't know is this baby monkey has a job.  He's one of the most adorable private eyes in the business.  Presented with a series of cases, you will also come to realize his cleverness.

In the first scene Baby Monkey is cozily leaning against a cushion on the sofa in his office.  A typewriter is on the table in front of the sofa.  A variety of pictures on the visible walls and a bust of a famous person on his desk relate to the person about to open his door.  Baby Monkey is reading Famous Jewel Crimes.  

An opera star dressed in full costume bursts into Baby Monkey's office proclaiming the theft of her jewels.  Baby Monkey is confident in his ability.  He gathers and notes pertinent information.  He takes a moment to fuel his body with food (baby carrots).  He struggles to put on his pants.  After several attempts, he is ready to crack this case.  And he does!  His victory is complete when the case gets headlines in the Monkey Times.  

This first notable triumph is repeated in three more case.  Major components of Baby Monkey's investigative routine remain in place but the victims, the thefts and the criminals (plus Baby Monkey's snacks and office decor) are wildly and widely varied.  There's a huge difference between the stolen items of a chef, a clown and an astronaut. Readers can also see the toll these busy endeavors are taking on Baby Monkey. He's exhausted.

With the arrival of the next client, our precious primate can barely keep his eyes open.  His procedure is abandoned in favor of immediate knowledge of the superbly satisfying conclusion to this fifth case.

Hooray for Baby Monkey!


With a stroke of genius authors Brian Selznick and David Serlin start this book designed for early readers with a single, shouted word.  When we are told to wait, isn't our greatest desire to do the opposite?  Readers (of all ages) will be willing participants in this story as soon as they see the established pattern of the narrative.

Key phrases are constant in the cases until Baby Monkey's fatigue is evident.  His quiet exclamations as he consumes his munchies and when he tries to put his pants on shift somewhat to assist in pacing and elevate the comedy.  This anticipated tempo provides the perfect platform for the big reveal. Here is the continuation of the introduction before the first case.

He is
a baby.
He is
a monkey.
He has
a job . . .


To tell you the truth, I can hardly wait to hold a completed copy, other than an uncorrected proof shared by a colleague, this coming Tuesday. The entire book, more than 190 pages, is nearly all wordless black and white images created by Brian Selznick.  The red used in the title text on the front of the dust jacket is sparely used at the end of each chapter.  When the simple text is displayed, it is done so in a large font on pristine white.  To view the book case here is a link to a tweet by Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher.

The drawings, artwork, of Brian Selznick will literally take your breath away.  The details in Baby Monkey will have you reaching out to touch the page.  The perspectives used in portraying the youngster shift with excellence as the cases unfold.  The series of single page portraits for each case of him striving to put on a pair of pants are merry mirth inducing.

What all readers will find intriguing is the decor in Baby Monkey's office.  With each case it changes prompting us to do a bit of research prior to the door opening to disclose the next client.  If we simply can't take the time to do it then, we will be compelled to do so after the book is completed.

One of my favorite of nearly all of these illustrations is one of the single-page pictures when he is first trying to put on his pants.  We are given an indication of his size as he sits on a book on its side.  Baby Monkey is facing the gutter from an illustration on the right.  His left leg is in the right pant leg.  He is holding the left pant leg in his hands trying to figure out what to do next.  His face, wide-eyed as usual, is scrunched in perplexity.


One copy of Baby Monkey, Private Eye written by Brian Selznick and David Serlin with pictures by Brian Selznick for your professional and private collections will not be enough.  You are going to need multiple copies.  This book will be highly read repeatedly and shared extensively among the intended audience as well as anyone fortunate to read it.  At the close of the book are smaller illustrations of Baby Monkey's office with information about the decor.  There is also an index and a bibliography which you need to read with careful reflection and an urge to laugh.

If you wish to know about the creators of this book and the book, you can visit the publisher's website here or a special website for the book here.  Both places are loaded with images, information, activities and the book trailer.  Brian Selznick is featured in a Publishers Weekly article which concludes with a discussion about this book.  Brian Selznick and David Serlin are interviewed at Shelf Awareness about this title.  Just a few days ago Brian Selznick is showcased in an article in The New York Times.  There is a The New York Times  live video of his studio, his drawing and this book.

Brighten Beyond Belief

On December 13, 2011 Scholastic launched a new site dedicated to Teaching with Brian Selznick.  Materials are aimed at third through fifth grade and sixth through eighth.  Subject tags are:  language arts, science, social studies, arts and creativity.

One of the highlights of the site is a virtual tour of the American Museum of Natural History located in New York City.  Founded in 1869 this museum plays a significant part in Selznick's newest title, Wonderstruck.

The tour lasts just over fifteen minutes with Selznick introducing each of the four parts:  Welcome to the Museum, The Wolf Diorama, The Giant Anopheles Mosquito and The Ahnighito Meteorite. 

There are additional activities and ideas for discussion about The Wolf Diorama, The Giant Anopheles Mosquito and The Ahnighito Meteorite.

Continuing down through the site following a short bio of Selznick is information and a study guide about the book, Wonderstruck with reviews. Included in this section are two interviews with Brian Selznick about his work, Kid Reporter and Instructor.

A similar format is used for his Caldecott Award winning book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Information about The Hugo Movie Companion (which I can personally attest to being interesting and loaded with facts) is followed by the movie trailer for Hugo.

Concluding this study and guide are even more activities grouped by language arts, science and social studies relative to Wonderstruck plus four more links.

Educators will feel like they've struck gold at this site, but then I felt the same way reading Brian Selznick's books; treasures of untold wealth for generations to come.

In A Flash---Brilliance!

Oh the joy of discovering Brian Selznick newest work, Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures,  in one of the stores in which I shopped this past Saturday evening.  Despite the late hour I began it that very night and have been reading it whenever I could sneak a moment in the following days until its completion today (Tuesday); all 640 pages.  As each page was turned I continued to marvel at the skill and commitment of this man who shared his gift of master storyteller with us, his readers.

It begins and ends with wolves drawn, as are all the visuals in this title, in pencil on watercolor paper.  I can not help but liken Selznick's illustrations to fabric, so rich is their texture and detail that the reader's eyes are like fingers softly stroking something tangible held between them.

As we are drawn page by page pictorially into the essence of the two loping wolves ending in the soul spark center of one's eye the book switches to text.  We are now at Gunflint Lake, Minnesota.  It is June 1977.  Ben Wilson has been awakened from a dream of wolves running behind him.  Ben has lost his only parent, his mother the town librarian, in an automobile accident.  A special wooden box holding a childhood of treasures engraved with a wolf, a can filled with rainy-day money, a tissue paper wrapped book with a bookmark stuck between its pages and a lightning strike lead Ben to run away in search of his past and future in New York City.

Moving back to illustrations only we are in Hoboken, New Jersey.  It is October 1927.  Rose's window in her home faces the skyline of New York City.  There is a sadness, too, about this young girl whose room houses paper replicas of those very buildings that fill her gazes.  She collects newspaper clippings of the actress, Lillian Mayhew, her mother.  She flees her loneliness seeking help in New York City. 

Reading the words of Ben's and the picture's of Rose's journeys, though fifty years apart, we follow as they find themselves in the rooms of the American Natural History Museum each seeking answers to their respective questions.  We know that their paths are going to cross but the mystery lies in just how threads of this story will weave together.  As Selznick leads us visually and textually through the workings of museums past and present our appreciation grows for their presence in our cultural community and in the part they play as these characters travel toward one another in an ending that is intricately moving.

One important piece of this tale that I want to address separately is that Rose is deaf.  Ben initially is deaf in one ear but becomes completely deaf through a twist of nature.  As stated in his five page acknowledgments at the book's end, as well as in his selected bibliography, Selznick painstakingly researched deafness and the Deaf culture.  Even without those statements readers feel the silence of their worlds, admire their courage and will leave with a far greater appreciation for their own hearing.

Regardless of this book's length I could not turn the pages quickly enough as Selznick's skill as a pacer of perfection drew me ever forward; he knew the precise moment to change from illustration to text and back again without missing a beat.

This work, Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures, comes from the heart; the heart of author/illustrator, Brian Selznick.  It is no accident the word art is within heart.  This is pure art; the kind that hangs in your mind, a cabinet of wonders, preserved always making up the pieces of who you are.  Brilliance, indeed!

Visit the Scholastic web site for Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures which also links to Selznick's web site.

I Am Wonderstruck

Brian Selznick wrote and illustrated his first book, The Houdini Box in 1991.  It was followed by The Robot King in 1995 and The Boy of a Thousand Faces in 2000. Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal with his book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Five hundred twenty-six pages, over three hundred that are wordless illustrations, tell the story of a boy living hidden in a train station in Paris.   The film version of The Invention of Hugo Cabret directed by Martin Scorsese is still scheduled to be released in 2011.

He garnered a Caldecott Honor Award for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins written by Barbara Kerley.  He has illustrated books for authors Ann M. Martin  and Laura Godwin (The Doll People), Andrew Clements (Frindle), Pam Munoz Ryan (Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride and Riding Freedom) to name just a few.

This fall his most anticipated title, Wonderstruck, which has been read by some already, check out a review by Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes, is guaranteed to be his finest achievement to date. 

View this trailer which was noted in a post by Monica Edinger, teacher and student of children's literature on her blog, educating alice this day.  We readers are in for a rare treat once again created by the hand and mind of Brian Selznick.  Be sure to check out the web site for Brian Selznick by clicking on the link embedded in the title of his Caldecott Award book.