The Caldecott Medal is given every year for a children’s picture book. It is awarded by the American Library Association to the most distinguished artist in the childrens illustration book arena.
I’m assume you are familiar with picture books. They line the walls of bookstores and libraries, most hardcover, and tell a story in 25 to 35 pages. To give you more of a visual, they are the books librarians and teachers will use for story time.
So imagine my surprise when perusing the children’s section a couple of months ago only to come upon the 2008 Caldecott winner: “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by Brian Selznick. I had to look twice. The book is more than 500 pages. It looks and feels like a novel, and it is. How did this win, I wondered. This is not “Make Way for Ducklings,” or “Snowy Day,” or “Where the Wild Things Are.” I had no choice but to purchase it on the spot and take it home to study such an anomaly.
For a few days I flipped through the pages, enchanted by the cross-hatching and charcoal art, reading a paragraph here and there. Until one Sunday afternoon I began at page one only to devour it In one sitting. Take this as a warning: you won’t be able to put this book down, and because it is a novel and not a picture book, it’s going to take some hours.
This book is part illustration and part written word. The story is told using both simultaneously. The pictures depend on the words and vice versa.
A synopsis: A boy who lives in Paris, at the train station, has a secret. His life unfurls and unfolds and twists and turns because of said secret.
This is all you get. I can’t delve deeper into it for fear of destroying the magic. The effect of the art mixed with the story, and sprinkled with a bit of obscure history, will dazzle readers.
Those who read my blog see that I’m in the middle of another dazzling read: “Corelli’s Mandolin.” “Great Expectations” has also come and gone on the re-reading queue. One of my favorite books, perhaps for its ambiguous ending. I love a story that wraps up with more questions than answers. So much is open. So much is hopeful. So much is left to the reader’s interpretation thus making them part of the tale.
Be it ambiguity or directness, there is much to love in a book that involves the reader. After finishing “Hugo Cabret” I felt the need to continue this theme of participation, thus seeking out the two above-mentioned.
Oh, and my educator friends would like this fact mentioned: This book, 500 pages plus, will make any child who isn’t a reader feel most accomplished. (I might add adults for that matter. It’s a behemoth in stature.) But the story is so wonderfully engaging, they will read it, and perhaps be encouraged to pick up others. Before they know it, they will be looking for classics thick with description and language and magic, and endings not long forgotten.
Trust me on this one. Go now and report back. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. Well, not just this one. I love to hear thoughts on any book. Sheesh.
Cheers, best and be good,
Scalder
Shannon Calder is a freelance writer, consultant, inspiration specialist and book reviewer. To read more go to postcardscalder.blogspot.com.
