Ex Libris Kirkland

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Illustrator Brian Selznick
First Written 2011
Genre Fiction
Origin US
Publisher Scholastic
ISBN-10 0545027896
ISBN-13 978-0545027892
My Copy library hardback
First Read July 15, 2016

Wonderstruck



Definitely an early YA read, this is still worth your time because of Selznick's drawings - just like Hugo Cabret before this. There are parallel stories here, one told thru text and another thru large, full-bleed pencil illustrations. The pacing and drama of the penciled images is wonderful, and they're interjected into the text with great skill. They reflect and comment on the written story, all while driving their own narrative forward. And just like in Cabret, he makes hay out of the slow zoom-out reveal.

I say the images are 'interjected into the text', although the text and images do share equally here, and there might be more pages of 'drawings' than text. But no matter what I do, I can't shake text from its preeminent position in something so bookish.

Noted on August 26, 2016


Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - .
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